Betrayed
by Whitewolf513
Summary: Serena is betrayed by the scouts and is nearly killed. But what happens when her rescuer is Jadeite?
1. Prologue

**Had the idea for this story while watching the episode in which the Scouts pretend to betray Serena, and I wondered what would happen if they really **_**did**_** betray her. So, this is the ****result of that thought.****  
><strong>**  
><strong>**Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon. Never have, never will.****  
><strong>**  
><strong>** _**

The youma had already been defeated by the time Sailor Moon, puffing and panting from running, arrived at the park. Predictably, Sailor Mars was far from amused.

"I know you seem to like being fashionably late, Serena, but frankly, this goes beyond "fashionably". This is _serious_!"

"I'm sorry, Raye, but I…" Sailor Moon began.

"We could have been killed by that youma without you here to moon-dust it!"

"I…"

"I don't know what the rest of you think, but I think it's high time we got a new leader if Miss Moon here isn't going to get her act together."

"WHAT?"

Sailor Mercury nodded.

"I agree, Serena. That was the toughest monster we've faced yet. One of us could have been badly hurt – or worse! If you're not going to be on time for once, then we need a new leader."

Sailor Moon gasped. "Amy!" Then she turned to the black cat watching everything and said, hoping and praying that at least one of the team was still able to think rationally, "Luna?"

"The girls are right, Serena. You're more of a hindrance than a help to the team. Either shape up… or ship out."

"We don't need whiny cry-babies on our team, you know." Sailor Mars added unkindly.

Fighting back tears, Serena turned to face her. She did _not_ want to give Raye the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Very well then, Raye, I resign. You are now leader of the Scouts." She de-transformed and held out her brooch and disguise pen. "You can have these, as I no longer have any need for them. I… I never wanted… to be Sailor Moon… in the first place!"

As she finished, she also lost her fight against tears, and ran sobbing from the park. Luna, Raye and Amy watched her go.

_

Meanwhile, in the Dark Kingdom, Jadeite was being yelled at by Queen Beryl for his failure to defeat the Scouts.

"This is your last chance!" She finished after about four hours shouting herself hoarse at all four of her Generals. "If you fail me again, you will be punished with Eternal Sleep."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jadeite saw the looks on the other three Generals' faces at this announcement – Nephrite, triumph that he would soon be taking Jadeite's place; Zoycite, a mixture of sympathy and contempt; and Malachite, no obvious emotions at all.

"I will not fail you, my Queen." Jadeite said, with a lot more certainty than he felt.

_

Serena climbed in her bedroom window and threw herself down on the bed, sobbing.

"Why?" She whispered, wiping the tears away. "They didn't even give me a chance to explain!"

_Well, at least I won't have to worry about fighting youmas or energy-draining schemes ever again._

But deep down, something told her that she had not seen the last of those schemes, or whoever/whatever was behind them.

_

**Reviews are greatly appreciated**


	2. Chapter 1

"Serena! Get up or you'll be late for school!" Ikuko shouted up the stairs to her daughter.

"Five more minutes, Mum!"

"Now where have I heard that before?" Shingo said to no one in particular as he took another bite of his sandwich.

"No 'five more minutes' about it, young lady! You've been in detention every day this week, and I will _not_ let that happen today, as well!"

"Ohhhh…"

In the morning, last night's events seemed like just a bad dream. Unfortunately, Luna's absence said otherwise. And if it was just a dream, why did she feel so miserable?

Ikuko stared at her daughter. Serena looked almost as if… she'd been crying?

"Serena, dear, whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing, Mum, I just… had a bad night."

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

Serena's mood didn't improve any when she left the house. If anything, it got worse. She would have to face Raye and Amy today, and right now she'd rather die. She didn't even look up as she walked down the street, choosing instead to keep her eyes firmly glued to the pavement. So perhaps it was inevitable that she would walk into someone. And, Serena being Serena, perhaps it was inevitable that that someone would be her worst (mundane) enemy.

Serena was just starting to think that maybe she should watch where she was going when she planted her face squarely in someone's chest and nearly fell over, but someone caught her in time.

"You _again_, Meatball Head?" an only too familiar voice asked.

She glared up at the black-haired boy she always seemed to be colliding with. "Not you!"

"Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"If you'd watch where _you're_ going this wouldn't keep happening! Now get out of my way. I'm late for school and I'm not in the mood for arguing with you."

With that, Serena stormed past. Darien stared after her, baffled.

"What's her problem?"

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"_Are you sure it's her?"_

"_Absolutely. When have I ever made mistakes?"_

"_In what order do you want that list – by the first letter of the place each incident occurred or from earliest to latest?"_

"_I thought you were leaving!"_

"_Sorry to disappoint you, oh Mighty-One-Who-Never-Makes-Mistakes__-And-Yet-Has-Screwed-Up-More-Missions-Than-The-Res t-Of-Us-Combined__. Now what do we do?"_

"_One more word out of you and I'll –"_

"_She's right. What do we do?"_

"_Watch. Watch and wait. And take action only if __there's no other option__."_

___**X X X X**__**  
><strong>_

"Is something wrong, Serena?" Molly said, surprised at the look on her usually cheerful friend's face.

Serena was about to reply when she caught sight of Amy walk in the school gates. Both girls froze, staring at each other. Then Amy looked away and walked past her as if she wasn't there.

"Serena? Serena!"

Serena suddenly realized Molly was shouting her name.

"What's wrong? You seemed a million miles away. Are you sick?"

"No, I… I'm fine. I… I gotta get into class or I'll be late! Talk to you later!"

Blinking back the tears that threatened to pour down her face, she raced indoors, leaving her friend staring after her.

"Was it something I said?"

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

Serena wasn't the only one having a bad day. Jadeite was trying to think of some way to please Queen Beryl and save him from an untimely death, but so far, he couldn't think of anything he hadn't tried before.

"Maybe I could capture a Scout…" he thought out loud and stopped.

Now _that_ was a good idea! If he could capture a Sailor Scout, Queen Beryl was sure to be pleased with him. But then he thought about it a bit more carefully and shook his head. To capture a Scout – any Scout – he would have to get past Sailor Moon and her very effective Frisbee-tiara thing. And while he could stop it, that meddling fool Tuxedo Mask kept showing up and ruining everything.

"I think this will require a good deal of thought."

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"Serena, are you ill?" Miss Haruna asked, concerned.

"No," she said quietly.

"You were on time today, you haven't smiled all morning, and you got fifty-five on your English test. Are you _sure_ you're feeling all right?"

Serena's temper suddenly snapped.

"Oh, so just because I'm actually on time for once, everyone thinks I'm sick or something? You don't know _anything_ and it's none of your damn business!" she yelled, oblivious to the stares she received from her classmates.

"Se_rena_!" Molly and the teacher gasped together.

"And it's none of your business if I smile, and you should be glad I got such a good score, and… and… just leave me alone!"

With that, she jumped up, stormed out the classroom door, and slammed it twice. The rest of the class watched her go.

**X X X X****  
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"_What the – What's wrong with her?"_

"_An argument with her so-called friends, I think."_

"_Some friends."_

"_For once, I agree."_

"_What date is it? We'd better keep a record of this incident for the future."_

"_Be serious, will you? Our princess's sister is in trouble, and –"_

"_Look, whatever problems she has, the mission is more important."_

"_Damn the mission. The Princess's sister is in trouble, and you're saying the mission's __more important__?!"_


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews! I'm trying to update when I can, but it's hard to get time to write sometimes.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Sailor Moon, would I be writing a**_**fan**___**fiction?**

**X X X X**

Sobbing, Serena ran down the hall, ignoring the shouts of teachers telling her it wasn't lunch time, so why wasn't she in her class. Someone tried to grab her arm, but she pushed past them and raced out the doors into the street. She had no idea where she was even going; just somewhere she could have some peace and quiet. She never noticed the figure watching her from across the street while pretending to read a newspaper.

When she finally stopped running, she found herself in a park. There was no one else around, so she sat down on the grass and continued crying. After several minutes, she was rudely interrupted by shouting.

"Get away from me!" someone screamed.

Without thinking, Serena jumped up and ran towards the voice. An elderly woman was being threatened by a hooded man with a gun.

"Give me your valuables, nice and peaceful, and this don't have to get ugly," the man said menacingly. "Otherwise..."

He held the gun at the side of the woman's head. Serena had seen enough.

"Hey!" she shouted, jumping out of the bushes. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"And who are you, missy?"

"I..." She stopped. She was about to say she was Sailor Moon, but she wasn't, and what was more, she couldn't transform. "It doesn't matter who I am. I won't let you rob this poor old lady!"

"Careful, dearie, he's got a gun..." the elderly woman warned.

The man took a step towards her and pointed his gun directly at her. Serena gasped, realising what he intended to do, but suddenly finding herself frozen.

"You know, kid, it seems you need to learn how to respect your elders. And I have ways of teaching stupid kids a few manners..."

He aimed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger. At the same time, something hit her, knocking her to the grass. The bullet flew harmlessly past above her. Dazed, Serena blinked a few times to clear her vision, then gasped when she saw who her rescuer was.

"You!"

Jadeite glanced at her, confused, and she realised that that might not have been the wisest thing to say. The would-be murderer was obviously surprised, not having expected anyone's interference.

"What's going on here?" A voice demanded suddenly, startling everyone.

Three armed policemen had just arrived. The man looked at them, decided it would be wisest to leave while he still could, turned, and ran. One of the policemen pulled a radio out of his pocket and started pressing a few buttons.

"You all right, miss?" another asked Serena, while the third listened to the account the woman was giving of what had happened.

"Yes," she answered, before looking round.

What she saw – or rather, what she _didn't_ see – made her wonder if any of what had happened had just been a weird dream. Jadeite was gone.

_"And, in Willow Park, a woman w__as attacked by a man with a gun,__"_ the newsreader continued. _"A girl attempted to stop the man, who wanted money, but was shot at. A passer-by heard the shot and called the police."_

Shingo happened to glance at the TV screen and froze. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. Finally satisfied that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he turned and shouted into the kitchen, "MUM! COME AND TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!"

Ikuko was in the living room in a flash. "What's wrong, dear?"

"Look!" He pointed at the screen.

Ikuko looked and reacted in the same way her son had.

"No..." she whispered. "It... isn't possible... KENJI!"

"What's wrong?" her husband called from where he was eating a slice of toast and reading the newspaper.

"YOU'LL HAVE TO SEE THIS TO BELIEVE IT!"

Kenji took another bite of his toast and got up, shaking his head.

"Is there any real need to shout-" He broke off, staring at the picture that was displayed on the screen. "Is that who I think it is?"

_"The girl, who ran away soon after the police arrived, did not give her name, but was identified by school children from Crossroads Junior High School as Serena Tsukino. Miss Tsukino was shot at by the robber..."__  
><em>  
>Kenji and Ikuko looked at each other grimly.<p>

"It is!" They said together.

"Shot at?" Shingo echoed. "My sister was crazy enough to get _shot at_?"

At that moment, the door opened and Serena walked in.

"SERENA TSUKINO!" Both her parents yelled.

"What did I do now?" Serena asked, confused.

"HOW DARE YOU PUT YOURSELF IN SUCH DANGER?" her father roared.

That was when Serena knew what this was all about.

"Hey, I couldn't just stand back and let him steal her money!" she protested.

"You could have called the police!"

"I didn't have a phone!"

"Oh, Serena, were you hurt?" Ikuko said worriedly.

"No, Mum, I'm fine! Really I am!"

"WHY WERE YOU NOT IN SCHOOL?" Kenji bellowed as soon as he could get a word in edgeways.

Serena's expression hardened.

"None of your business!" she snapped.

"_Serena_!"

"Go to your room, young lady, and don't dare show your face down here again until I say so!"

Serena glared at him, then burst into tears and ran up the stairs. A door was slammed loudly. A window was shut noisily. A wardrobe door was banged. A drawer was thrown open loudly and, if the crashing and thudding noises were anything to go by, went through very vigorously.

Kenji and Ikuko exchanged glances.

"What's she done now?"

Serena continued stuffing clothes into her school bag, the contents of which were now decorating the floor.

"I can't stay here anymore, I just _can't_! Maybe I could stay at Molly's or something..." She trailed off, still sobbing.

She knew only too well what she was doing – she was running away, and she hadn't the faintest idea where she was going to go. She finished "packing", then stopped and looked round at her room. Fighting back even more tears that threatened to choke her, she opened her window again – it was really a wonder she hadn't cracked it, slamming it as hard as she had – and climbed out it, onto the tree branch beyond. From there, it was easy to climb down to ground level, and then run out onto the street without even a backward glance.

Serena Tsukino was now a runaway, and she had no idea where she was running to.

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

_"Are you still saying we're not to get involved?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Well, why can't we at least try to keep her and the prince apart?"_

_"Look, they __**are**__ apart. And if I have anything to do with it, they'll_stay_apart."_

_"I still think..."_

_"If you say that once more, I... I... I don't know what I'll do, but I can promise you it'll be something terrible."_

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

The sun was setting as Serena ran in the direction of Molly's house. She turned a corner and abruptly stopped. For there, talking with her worst enemy, were Raye and Amy! She quickly spun round and retraced her steps. Unfortunately, she didn't see the banana peel that someone had left lying on the pavement. The next thing the teenager knew, she was sprawled on the ground, with something digging into her side and one of her shoes missing.

"_Oww_!" A voice yelled.

Serena groaned. It didn't take Amy to realise that when her shoe had flown off, it had hit someone. And, being Serena, that someone was in all probability her worst enemy. It was an enemy, but not the one she was thinking it would be.

Raye glared at her, holding her head.

"Clumsy as ever, I see, _Sailor Moon_."

Serena ground her teeth.

"I'm not Sailor Moon any more, as you well know, _Sailor Mars_. And whose fault is it?"

Raye threw the shoe at her.

"Even if you seem to have lost your sense of humour, you're still a joke," she said, before crossing the road.

Once again, tears began to fall down Serena's face as she put her shoe on again.

"How could I ever have called her my friend?" she whispered, wiping them away with her sleeve.

There was no one home at Molly's, so Serena went to the park nearby to think of what to do now.

"I can't go back home, there's no one at Molly's... What am I supposed to do?"

Before, she would have gone to the temple, but that was out of the question now. She didn't have long to think this through, however.

"What's the matter, Moon-brat? Had an argument with your friends?" A very familiar voice asked mockingly, cutting into her thoughts.

Serena jumped up, her eyes widening.

"You!"

Jadeite smirked.

"Yes, me, Sailor Moon."

"How-"

"Did I find out the truth about who you are? Easy. You nearly gave yourself away earlier. And then I heard you and Sailor Mars – or should I say, Raye Hino – talking. You're not very good at keeping your secret identities secret."

"I'm not Sailor Moon any more. I'm not Sailor anything. I resigned – or was thrown out. And why did you save me earlier?"

Jadeite was silent for several minutes, staring at the sun, which now had sunk almost below the roofs of the buildings. A long-forgotten memory resurfaced in his mind, a different girl with blonde hair about to be killed by a man, and he himself unable to do anything to save her.

"I don't know," he said at last. "It just... reminded me of something."

"What?" It suddenly struck Serena that it was a bit odd to be having this conversation with her enemy, but then, since she was no longer Sailor Moon, was he really her enemy?

"I don't want to talk about it."

Neither spoke for a while, during which time the sun set completely and the moon shone down on them.

"Why are you out here this late?" Jadeite asked suddenly.

"I ran away from home."

"Why?" Jadeite wondered why he was even bothering to talk to her. After all, they were enemies – or had been enemies. Did that end as soon as she had stopped being Sailor Moon?

"I was late for a fight, and Mars gave me my marching orders. The other two agreed with her. So I resigned. Then I got my picture on the TV and Mum and Dad yelled at me. That's why I'm running away, and that's all there is to it."

Jadeite was silent. He had heard what was said by Sailor Mars.

"Are we still enemies?" Serena asked after a pause.

"I don't know. What do you think?"

Serena thought about this.

"I don't know either. I don't want to be anyone's enemy. And I didn't have a choice about becoming Sailor Moon." She stopped to think. "I'm willing to be friends if you are."

It was Jadeite's turn to think.

"All right," he said at last.

**X X X X**

_"This is... unexpected."_

_"Unexpected to you, perhaps. I thought something like this might happen."_

_"No matter what happens, she will never be surprised. Even if she is."_

_"One more word out of you and I'll kill you."_

_"Good luck with that, idiot."_


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Do I have to say it at the beginning of every chapter? I don't own Sailor Moon.**

**X X X X**

"Yes. Yes," Kenji glanced in his wife's direction and shook his head.

Ikuko looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Well, do your best, please. Goodbye," Kenji set the phone down. "They still can't find her."

"It's been seven hours since we last saw her – what do you think could have happened?"

"I only wish I knew. And I wish I could turn back time and never have told her to go to her room. Maybe this wouldn't have happened then."

The conversation was abruptly interrupted by a knock at the door. Kenji and Ikuko exchanged fearful looks.

"_You_answer it!" they said together.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"I couldn't stand to... suppose it's bad news?"

"That's exactly why I don't want to answer it!"

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_ The knocks were getting louder. Obviously, whoever was outside was getting impatient.

"We'll both answer it."

Standing outside the door was...

"Serena!" Ikuko cried, hugging her daughter. "We were so worried about you!" Then, without even pausing for breath, she shouted, "When I get finished grounding you, young lady, you won't be leaving your room until the fiftieth century!"

Once Serena was in the living room, both her parents gave her very grim looks indeed.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady," her mother said. "And you had better have a good explanation."

Several hours later, the police had been called and told that the missing girl had been found, so the search could be called off, and Serena had given them a heavily edited version of what had happened. She said she'd been upset over her grades, and then had gotten into an argument with her friends and later her teacher, and had been so mad she'd run away, gone to the park for a few hours, then calmed down enough to return home. The result was she got grounded for the next week and was being sent straight to bed without anything to eat at all.

In her room, Serena had plenty of time to think about what had happened – well, most of it. She couldn't think about the other Scouts without starting to cry. She hadn't wanted to come home, but, as Jadeite had pointed out, she couldn't stay outside for the rest of the night. At least when she was grounded, she wasn't likely to meet anyone she'd rather not see again for as long as she lived.

**X X X X  
><strong> 

At school the next day, everyone was staring at her and whispering. It was extremely embarrassing. What was even worse was when the head praised her for her "courageous, noble act" in front of the whole school. If ever Serena wished the floor would take pity on her, open up and swallow her, she wished it then. Every teacher she encountered commended her, and most added something along the lines of she should be as eager to do her school work as she was to protect the innocent. There was only one person who acted like she didn't exist. Amy.

"Wow, Serena, you're the hero of the whole school!" Umino said excitedly at lunch time.

"Thank you so much for stating the obvious, Umino. How _did_ I miss that fact?" Serena said with uncharacteristic sarcasm.

Molly gave her an odd look. "Are you feeling okay, Serena?"

The girl was about to reply when she saw Amy walk out the door.

"No, actually, I've got a headache," she said quickly, before running inside, leaving two very bewildered classmates.

"What's with her lately?" Molly wondered.

"Maybe she's sick," Umino said.

"Sick? She's sick all right, with _guilt_," Amy muttered as she passed, just loud enough for them to hear her.

"What do you mean?"

"She wasn't on time for a meeting at the shrine then started a row about it. We haven't been speaking since."

"That doesn't sound like Serena," Umino said after Amy left.

**X X X X  
><strong> 

_"So now they're making lies up about her."_

_"I believe it is time I got involved."_

_"Oh, great! I've been waiting for this for longer than I can remember!"_

_"I said, it is time_I_got involved."_

_"Then what do we do?"_

_"That's easy. Stay out of my sight before you end up being just a nasty mess on the floor for the caretaker to clear up!"_

_"What caretaker?"__  
><em> 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

As Serena walked home that day, she suddenly knew exactly how celebrities must feel, with people staring at them. Obviously, far too many people watched television these days. Heads turned all the way down the street. Some little girls even asked for her autograph!

_"I only saved a little old lady from being robbed. It's not all that big a deal! Anyone would think I'd saved some famous person from assassination!"_ she thought, annoyed, as she forced herself to walk past the Crown Game Centre without going in. After all, she was supposed to be grounded.

Serena sighed and tried to switch her school bag to her other shoulder. Unfortunately, she only realised that one of her shoelaces was undone when it was too late to do anything about it – when she tripped over it. Both Serena and school bag went flying, Serena ending up on the pavement, and the school bag... The girl winced, waiting for the shout of pain she was certain would accompany the flyaway accessory.

"OWW!"

Yes. She was right.

Gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain in her arm, Serena finally managed to gather enough courage to look up and face the enemy she just _knew_ had been in the path of the school-bag-turned-dangerous-flying-object.

"Some strange way you have of greeting someone?" the victim asked.

Serena froze. _That_ wasn't her worst enemy's voice. It wasn't Raye or Amy's voice either.

"Sorry, I just... tripped," she said, staring at the ground.

Jadeite gave her a half-annoyed, half-amused look, holding his shoulder where the school bag had hit him.

"Nice way to say hello," he said dryly.

"Very funny. And I have to get home now. I'm grounded for a week and if I'm not home exactly fifteen minutes after school finishes, Dad will kill me!"

She had only taken two steps when Jadeite said suddenly, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Startled, Serena spun round. He held up her bag.

"Oh... Thanks."

**X X X X**

_"Graceful as ever, I see."_

_"You sound like Sailor Mars."_

_"She acts like her, too."_

_"Thank you for your opinions. I don't like __your__ character much, either, you know!"_

_"Oh? And why is that? Because I don't let you do what you want all the time?"_

_"Stop it, you two. You're acting like a couple of wild animals. How are you going to go about "interfering"?"_

_"That's easy. I'm going to keep an eye on things from Tokyo. In other words, I'm going to pretend to be a student at the Princess's school."__  
><em> 

_**X X X X**__**  
><strong>_

"Mum? Dad? I'm home!" Serena called.

No answer. There was a note on the kitchen table, however.

_Dear Serena,_ it read,

_We have gone to an urgent meeting with your father's boss. Sandwiches are in the bread unit. Should be back by five._

_Be good, dear. Love, Mum._

"Oh, well. May as well have a sandwich."

Serena had nearly finished the eighth and last sandwich when she was interrupted by a rustling noise in the living room.

"What's that?" She wondered, setting the remainder of the sandwich on the table.

Pushing open the door, the girl surveyed the living room. It appeared to be empty.

"Couldn't have been – _AHHHHHHH_!"

A white mouse had just run right over her foot. And if there was one thing Serena Tsukino hated more than youmas, it was mice.

The front door was thrown open and Serena ran out it like she was pursued by an army of creatures from the Dark Kingdom. Grounded or otherwise, she was _not_ staying in a house that had any mice in it.

**Reviews greatly appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, and I never will. Do I really have to say it at the beginning of every chapter?**

**X X X X**

Serena ran down the street, not daring to look back in case she saw something she'd rather not see. Instead, she kept her eyes firmly glued to the ground so she wouldn't have a run-in with any more banana skins.

**CRASH!**

"Twice in one day?" Jadeite said incredulously, getting up. "That must be a record even for _you_!"

"Sorry, I..."

"...Wasn't watching where you were going."

"Well, yes, actually."

"I thought you were grounded."

"I was – I am – but there were hundreds of huge mice in the house and my parents are gone!"

Jadeite gave her a disbelieving look.

"_Hundreds_ of _huge_ mice? And your parents have vanished?"

"No, they've gone to a meeting. And there were huge mice there!"

"How many?"

"Well, ummmm... ten?"

"You said 'hundreds'. How many did you see?"

"One."

"Uh-huh. And was it huge or just normal size?"

"Well... It was this big!" She held her hands several inches apart.

"Then it must be a youma sent by Queen Beryl. No Earth mouse could grow to that size."

Serena found she'd lost her voice.

"Okay, it was normal size," she admitted at last. "But will you please get rid of it for me?"

Jadeite stared at her in shock. "Me? Get rid of a MOUSE?"

"Well, I hate mice!"

"What do you think I am - a mouse catcher?"

"No... But I couldn't get rid of it and I couldn't stand to wait in that house for Mum and Dad to get back!"

No answer. Serena decided to try something that always worked well on her parents - most of the time.

"_Please_?"

Jadeite had to admit defeat at the pleading look she gave him. "All right. Let's go and find this monster mouse."

"Yes!" 

There was no sign of anything alive in the house, not even a spider.

"Well, where's the mouse?" Jadeite asked, looking round.

"It's in the living room."

When Serena saw what was lying on the floor of the living room, she screamed.

"It's the mouse! It's dead!"

Jadeite, however, looked more closely.

"Dead? That thing's not dead. In fact, if I wind this little key thing here, I'm sure it will be as good as new."

With that, he wound up the clockwork mechanism and set it on the floor. At once, the toy mouse started racing all over the room. Serena stared at it.

"You mean... someone played a trick on me?"

"Unless you've got another explanation for why a clockwork mouse could be here."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "When Shingo gets back, I'm going to... I'm going to... What am I going to do?"

"I don't know. What are you going to do?"

**X X X X**

_"That was a mean trick to play. And now she's blaming it on her brother!"_

_"Well, it was funny!"_

_"To you, maybe. Not to me. I think it was cruel."_

_"You don't know the meaning of the word "fun"."_

_"Actually, I do. My idea of fun just happens to be different to yours."_

_"I wonder when her high-and-mightiness will either get back or tell us to help her."_

_"The only thing you ever helped was someone to an early grave. Some of your jokes would give __me__ a heart attack!"_

_"It wouldn't take much for that to happen to you."_

_"Very funny."_

_"I was thinking... Why are we worried about the Moon Princess? Shouldn't we be more concerned about our own princess?"_

_"Well, she's safe now. And if we have anything to do with it, she'll stay that way for a long time."_

_****__**X X X X**__**  
><strong>_

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," Miss said the next morning. "Everyone, please welcome Scarlett Grey."

Serena looked up from the page of her schoolbook she was doodling on to see what the new girl was like. Her first thought was, _"Why is she called Scarlett?"__  
><em>  
>The girl was tall and thin, with short black hair, black eyes, and dark skin.<p>

"Miss Grey has just moved here from America" the teacher continued.

Scarlett glanced around the classroom, pausing when she saw Amy, and a strange look appeared on her face, as if she knew her very well and didn't think much of her. Then she looked directly at Serena. The girl flinched, suddenly scared at the cold look in Scarlett's eyes. She was scarcely aware that Miss Haruna had finished talking and turned to Scarlett.

"You may sit next to Miss Tsukino there."

_That_ registered with her. Serena was about to protest when she caught the new girl's eye again. Almost unnoticeably, she shook her head. Serena got the message loud and clear.

_"Don't say anything... or else."_

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

_"Okay, so what do we do now? Wait?"_

_"That's it exactly."_

_"I HATE waiting!"_

_"You hate everything."_

_"I do not!"_

_"Yes, you do!"_

_"Don't!"_

_"Do!"_

_"Don't!"_

_"Do!"_

_"Don't!"_

_"Fine, you don't, if nothing else will satisfy you."_

_"Thank you. Now, what if we check up on OUR Princess?"_

_"No. Our orders are to stay here."_

_"We can't do this, we can't do that... Is there anything we can do other than exactly what you-know-who says?"_

_"We all promised our Princess when we last saw her that we wouldn't question her authority when the time came."_

_"Well, not questioning her authority might come easy to YOU, but not to me. We've been obeying her for the past... how long is it? 100,000 years?"_

_"Correction: It's only been 10,000 years since the fall of the Silver Millennium."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Time sure does stretch out when you're bored, doesn't it?"_

_"For the sake of my sanity, I'm not even going to think about answering that."_

_**X X X X**_

At lunchtime, Serena suddenly found Molly seemed to be trying to avoid her.

"Odd" She said, watching as her best friend started talking to Umino about bugs or something boring like that. "She's been spending too much time in Biology Class, probably."

She had only sat down to eat her lunch when the last person she wanted to talk to sat down next to her.

"I think you already know I'm not just an ordinary student." Scarlett wasted no time in coming to the point.

"Ummm... Then you aren't?"

"No. I've been watching you, Sailor Moon."

Serena froze. "You know who I was?"

"And who you still are."

"That doesn't make any sense. I gave Raye my brooch."

"You don't... Oh, never mind. You are friends with General Jadeite now." It wasn't a question.

"Yes... Are you from the Dark Kingdom too?"

"No. Who I am doesn't matter, or where I'm from. All that does matter is that you tell him he mustn't return there. And stay away from that boy you run into almost every day. The future will be put in danger if you disregard that warning."

"What are you, some kind of nut who thinks they know the future?"

Scarlett smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. "Not quite. I happen to know someone who does know the future, though. And remember what I said."

With that, she got up.

"By the way, Serena," she added suddenly, turning to face her again, "you will not fight alone."

Serena stared after her, shocked.

_"But all my fighting ended when I stopped being Sailor Moon... didn't it? And who is she, anyway__?"_


	6. Chapter 5

After school was over for the day, Scarlett paid a visit to the park, mainly because it was the only place she could think of that she could get any peace and quiet. She stopped under a large tree and started rummaging through her school bag, pulling a strange locket out of it.

"I think it is time you awakened our Princess," she said quietly, apparently to herself.

_"Well, it's about time!"_ an annoyed voice replied.

_"For once, I agree. She's been driving me mad!"_

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't killed each other yet!"

_"So am I!"_ both voices said together.

"Well, never mind that now. Just awaken the Princess, and..."

_"No, Onyx! Wait! She hasn't finished... Too late. She's gone."_

"Why am I not surprised?"

_"The Princess has my sympathy."_

"Yes, she won't know what hit her. What I was about to say is, have there been any developments?"

_"In the Dark Kingdom, there have."_

"Oh? What's happening there?"

_"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."_

"Try me." 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

"And there's this really weird new girl at school, Scarlett Grey," Serena said. "She knows I was Sailor Moon, and she knew you're from the Dark Kingdom. Who do you think she is?"

"I don't know," Jadeite said. "What..."

The conversation was abruptly interrupted by a shout of "Look out below!" The next thing Serena knew, something had landed on her – hard. The result was that she ended up lying on the ground, her mouth full of something – was it leaves or earth? - that tasted worse than the vegetables her parents kept insisting she eat. It made her feel sick, whatever it was. She could hear Jadeite muttering a few...colourful words from somewhere to her left, so he was all right, but what about the thing that apparently had fallen from the sky?

"Who the hell are you?" Jadeite snapped.

Startled, Serena raised her head... to see a girl who looked nearly identical to her. Her hair was even up in the same style, only it was darker, longer and slightly wavy, and her eyes were green.

"I'm Haruko Howaito!" the girl announced.

Serena spat the leaves out of her mouth, wishing there was a sink nearby, and gave Haruko the full benefit of her scariest glare.

"Who do you think you are, hitting me like that?" she snapped.

"I didn't mean to, Serena. I fell out of the tree." Haruko pointed up at the tree overhead.

"Well, you – Hey! Wait a minute! How'd you know my name?"

Haruko gave her an odd look. "I remembered it, silly!"

"But we've never met before!"

"Yes, we...Oh. So you haven't remembered yet."

"Remembered what?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Why did you choose that tree to climb?" Jadeite asked through gritted teeth. "Anyonr can see it's dangerous!"

"My hat blew away and got caught in it," Haruko said, picking up her (somewhat tattered) hat.

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"Thanks to you, we didn't awaken our Princess together! And now she could be almost anywhere, looking for Serena!" A tall girl with dark blue hair shouted, glaring at a younger girl with brown hair sitting on a park bench and pretending she wasn't hearing a word.

Scarlett grabbed the first girl's arm. "Why don't you shout the words "Princess" and "awaken" a little louder, Aquamarine?" she growled. "Because I'm sure there's some poor, deaf soul somewhere on the other side of the planet who _didn't_ hear you!"

"Well, aren't you angry with her too, Obsidian?" Aquamarine said angrily.

"Of course. But that doesn't mean I have to broadcast supposedly private matters across all of Tokyo!"

"Don't worry, 'Sidian," Onyx spoke up. "No one will pay any attention to someone who's obviously crazy."

Aquamarine rounded on her instantly. "How _dare_ you say I'm crazy?!"

"I was just stating facts—"

"Oh, shut up!" Scarlett/Obsidian snapped, holding her head. "You two are driving _me_ crazy! What's done is done, and now all we've got to do is stop anything else from going wrong. In other words, find Solaria before it's too late!" 

**X X X X**

"It's not fair!" Zoycite complained. "It's just not fair!"

Nephrite, who had been forced to listen to her for the past hour or so, rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the constant whining beside him.

_"Is she like this for Malachite?"_he wondered, as Zoycite continued moaning.

Malachite had gone to earth, and Zoycite had been forbidden to accompany him, which meant she was left alone in the Dark Kingdom, and, with her brother gone, that left only one General she could torment. Nephrite was seriously considering using the power of the stars to create a pair of earmuffs.

"First Jadeite, now Malachite! Why is everyone suddenly going to earth? What's so special about it, anyway?"

"You're not there, so it must be a paradise."

If looks could kill, Nephrite would have been six feet under.

"Very funny," Zoycite said through gritted teeth. Then she changed her tune abruptly and looked worried. "Do you think I'm why Malachite's gone?"

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised. You're driving _me_ mad and I only have to listen to you 'til he gets back. Malachite _lives_ with you. That would make anyone want to get away, even for a few hours! Now please, if you've quite finished annoying me for one day, could you leave? I would like some peace and quiet!"

Zoycite ignored him. "Then if I'm why Malachite's left... What if he finds someone else on earth?"

"Then he leaves you, I suppose, and if you're not going to go away, I'm leaving you, too! I've got a headache now that I didn't have until you showed up!"

With that, Nephrite stormed out the door, slamming it loudly. Zoycite had scarcely even heard a word of what he'd said, so she didn't hear it.

"If I'm why Malachite's left..." she repeated quietly. "That does it! I'm going to earth, orders or no orders!"


	7. Chapter 6

"Serena!" Kenji roared. "Get down here this instant!"

Serena forced her eyes open and stared sleepily at her alarm clock.

"Dad, it's only 7:30!" She said sleepily.

"I don't care if it's the day before yesterday, young lady! Have you forgotten your dentist's appointment?"

"Until you mentioned it, yes," the teenager yawned, snuggling up under her quilt again.

The next thing she knew, someone had torn it from her grasp, pulling it right off the bed. The early morning sunshine streamed through the window right into the girl's eyes, making it hard for her to see. Blinking, she looked up at the grim face of her mother.

"Out of that bed and down those stairs if you ever want allowed out of this house again, Serena Usagi Tsukino!" Ikuko threatened.

Serena sat up and swung her legs over the side, yawning fit to dislocate her jaw. Ever since the shooting incident, her parents had clamped down on her harshly. No staying up late, no laziness, no over-sleeping, no dawdling after school (she had found a way to evade this one – Jadeite met her a block away from the school and walked with her until a block away from her house unless someone was with her – the other school girls must have wondered why Serena had suddenly taken to rushing off as soon as the bell rang, and only Amy, who had seen her with Jadeite, knew the answer), no score less than an 80 on a test unless there was an excellent reason for it, no playing video games.

She was only allowed to go to the park if Shingo went with her, and he usually ended up wandering off to talk to schoolmates. That gave her some freedom to have a few words with Jadeite, but there was always more risk than usual.

Overall, her life was fairly predictable now. The only problem: she had a most uneasy feeling that something was wrong. Something was badly wrong. And she didn't like that feeling one bit.

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

Something _was_ badly wrong for someone. Zoycite wasn't able to find Malachite anywhere, and she was seriously starting to think that what Nephrite had said was true. Just when she was starting to give up hope of finding him, she rounded a corner and stopped. There was Malachite... but wait! Who was the blue-haired girl he was with? Zoycite blinked and rubbed her eyes. Yes, it was definitely Malachite, and he was definitely talking to a girl with short blue hair – a schoolgirl, she looked like. Even while the stunned Zoycite watched, he kissed her before they walked off together.

"Did I really see what I think I just saw?"

**X X X X**

Meanwhile, Obsidian was giving Haruko a piece of her mind.

"Just why did you have to run off like that? You could have spoiled everything!"

"I know, but I wanted to find my sister. And at least she isn't with that stupid so-called prince anymore."

"True, but there's a reason I'm insisting on keeping them apart." Obsidian replied through gritted teeth. "If they learn who they really are, they'll fall in love again and the world will be destroyed again! That's why we haven't awakened Serenity – er, Serena."

"Oh, so you can awaken me but not my sister?" Haruko said sharply.

"She's not your sister in this life!"

"Well, she was! And I still think of her as a sister!" The girl spun round and glared up at the sun. "And by the way, I've talked my parents into transferring me to Serena's school."

"Oh, you've – YOU'VE DONE WHAT?"

Grinning, Haruko turned to face her. "Bet you wish you'd seen that one coming – Hey, look, isn't that Sailor Mercury?"

Obsidian whirled round to see what she meant. Sure enough, Amy had just walked into the park with a white-haired man. Obsidian turned very pale.

"That's Sailor Mercury, all right. And that's General Malachite she's with." 

X X X X 

"Hey, Serena!" Someone called out to the girl in question as she walked into the school-yard.

Surprised, she looked up, to see a very familiar girl running towards her, waving.

"Haruko! What are you doing here?"

"I got transferred here," Haruko said with a grin.

"So that's how you knew my name."

"Could be."

The conversation was abruptly ended when Amy walked through the gate, followed by an even less welcome person – Raye. Serena froze, startled to find herself fighting the urge to cry. She'd thought all that was over and done with. Obviously not. Muttering a hasty "Excuse me" to Haruko, she rushed into the building. She would not give Raye the pleasure of seeing her cry.

"You're early today, Serena!" Miss Haruna said, taken aback at seeing the habitually tardy teenager be the first one into the classroom. "In fact, you've been early for the past three days, and you've had surprisingly good grades. Turning over a new leaf, are we?"

"Actually, it's my parents' fault," Serena mumbled, opening her desk to find a book – or so the teacher thought. In reality, she was attempting to hide the fact she was in danger of bursting into tears at any moment.

_"I'm seriously thinking of asking Mum and Dad to transfer __me__! Or maybe even leave Tokyo entirely, if it's the only way I'll ever get away from the so-called Scouts!"_

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

Nephrite was enjoying an extremely rare few minutes of peace in his mansion. Malachite had yet to return, so Zoycite was undertaking to make his life as miserable as possible. Finally, the place was Zoycite-free for what seemed like the first time today, and Nephrite was determined to make the most of it while it lasted. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end... particularly where a certain copper-haired, green-eyed General is concerned.

The first warning Nephrite got to his worst enemy's presence was the cherry blossom petals that suddenly began floating around the room. The next thing he knew, Zoycite had flung herself down on a chair and started crying. Bewildered, he stared at her.

"What's the matter with you now?" He demanded at last.

No answer except more tears and more sobs.

"What childish game are you playing this time?"

Zoycite gave him a half-furious, half-miserable look. "How... dare... you?" she said between sobs.

Nephrite was seriously wondering if he was living in a madhouse by this stage. With all the lunatics who seemed to enjoy coming there for the sole purpose of tormenting him, it certainly seemed that way.

"What's wrong?" he asked at length, unable to think of anything better to say.

"Mal... Malachite... girl... human," Zoycite managed to choke between sobs.

"Well, that was as clear as mud! What are you talking about?"

"Malachite... was with... some girl... some _human_ girl!"

Nephrite wasn't impressed. "And you came all the way over here to tell me _that_? What has that got to do with me?"

"You said that I could be the reason Malachite spends so much time on earth, so I went to see if it was true," Zoycite sniffed. "And I saw him with a human girl!"

"Uh-huh. And have you thought of all the possible explanations for that?"

"What possible explanation could you have for him kissing her? I can only think of one!"

For once, Nephrite had nothing to say. 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

"Class, we'll be doing something slightly different today," Miss Haruna said. "We'll be writing stories, and the best story will be read out at assembly tomorrow."

"What sort of story?" Molly asked.

"Any sort you like."

"Can it be a true story?" Serena spoke up.

"It can be based on real events, but I'd prefer if you changed as many things as possible."

"Can it be a story about something that happened to you or someone you know?" Umino said.

"You could use that as a guide."

"Can it be based on a legend?" Haruko asked.

"It can be anything you want it to be." Miss Haruna looked at the clock. "Now please, everyone, make a start. Otherwise we won't be able to finish before lunch."

Serena took a sheet of paper out of her desk and started writing. She already knew what she would be writing about.

After lunch, the pupils returned to their classroom to hear the stories read out and to vote on the one they thought was best.

"We'll start with Serena Tsukino," the teacher said. "Serena, would you please read your story?"

Serena stood and began to read.

"Once, there was a girl named Bunny. She had three friends. Or, at least, she _thought_ they were her friends. The three of them decided to play detectives and hold pretend investigations into pretend crimes, then hold meetings and compare the pretend clues they'd found. One day, she was late for one of the meetinga because she forgot about her homework while playing a video game, and had to complete it before leaving her house. That was when her friends showed their true colours. They shouted at her and told her that she was a silly idiot. Heartbroken, Bunny ran home and shut herself in her room. She thought she could never leave the house again. Her parents didn't know what was wrong with her, so thought it was just a simple quarrel and made her continue her life as normal. Then one morning, as she walked to school, a group of men tried to steal her money, but she was saved by a boy."

Serena paused and looked at Miss Haruna. "That's as far as I've got."

"Very good, Serena," the teacher said. "Amy Mizuno, you're next."

Serena noticed with some satisfaction the look on Amy's face as she got up to read her story. She didn't bother listening to hers or Raye's. The rest of the stories were of no real interest. That is, until Haruko read the one she'd written.

"A long time ago, there was a Princess on the Moon, Princess Serenity. Her mother, the Queen of the Moon Kingdom, wanted her to marry the Prince of the Earth for diplomatic reasons, and Serenity had no objections. But then, when she turned sixteen, she was sent to a ball in the Earth Palace, and there she met one of the Prince's Guardians. Neither knew who the other was, but they fell in love. After returning to the Moon, Serenity thought she would never see the young man she loved again. But she was wrong.

"When the Prince paid a visit to the Moon with his Guardians, both were shocked to discover the true identities of who they had met at the ball. The Queen warned Serenity that she must go through with marrying the Prince, so she sadly agreed, and that night told the young man what had happened. He was jealous of his prince, and an evil Earth woman who wanted to marry the Earth Prince took advantage of this, saying that if he joined her army, he and Princess Serenity could be together forever.

"However, when he joined her, she erased his memories, and soon after attacked the Moon. The people of the Moon and the other planets attempted to fight them, but they were defeated. And there was also a case of treachery: Sailor Mars, one of Princess Serenity's Guardians, had secretly been in love with the Prince of Earth herself, and she was so jealous that she helped the evil army find a way into the Moon Palace. The Kingdom on the Moon was destroyed, and Princess Serenity was among those killed. Heartbroken, the Queen sealed the attacking army away in another dimension, and then used her magic to send the Princess and her Senshi, her Guardians, to the future, where they would be reincarnated as normal girls and would have a chance at a normal life."

"Excellent, Miss Howaito!" Miss Haruna said over the applause of the class. "I think we're all agreed that that was the best story."

Serena didn't hear any more. She was in a state of shock.

_"Moon Princess... evil Earth woman... Kingdom on the Moon... is Haruko the Princess the Scouts are searching for?"_


	8. Chapter 7

"Really, this whole place is going to melt in a ham bucket!" an outraged Aquamarine complained when she heard of what Haruko had done.

"I think you mean "going to hell in a hand basket"," Onyx corrected her, looking up from where she was filing her nails.

"Yes, that too," the blue-haired girl agreed.

"Never mind that now," Obsidian said. "All that matters is not letting her royal highness out of our sights."

"What about the General she's with?" Onyx said. "Couldn't he watch her for us?"

"For that, we'd need to reveal our identities, and that's too dangerous, especially with Beryl on the loose."

"Well, I have to get back to my school now," Aquamarine said suddenly, jumping up. "Time and tide hate the late man!"

"Hate the late man?" Obsidian echoed, bewildered. "Don't you mean "wait for no man"?" 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

"Okay, so maybe Malachite _is_ cheating on you. But what does that have to do with me? It's your problem, _you_ deal with it!"

Zoycite glared at Nephrite. "I am not going back to that castle, and Jadeite is away, so that leaves only here for me to stay."

"And just what do you think this is?" Nephrite demanded irritably. "A hotel for any and all lunatics who don't want to return to their homes?"

Zoycite gave him an odd look, as if trying to decide something. Then she smiled sinisterly. "Well, technically you're not allowed to leave the Dark Kingdom, since you don't have any orders."

"Yes, but... Where is this going?"

"So, Queen Beryl would not be pleased to hear you're repeatedly disobeying her."

Realisation began to dawn on Nephrite. "How dare you -"

"So, if I told her that, what do you think she would do?"

Thinking things not lawful to be uttered, Nephrite had no choice but to back down. "All right, all right, you can stay."

"Hurray!" Zoycite cried, jumping up like an excited child and nearly giving him a hug before coming to her senses and backing away.

Nephrite watched her practically skip out the door and shook his head. "_Now_what have I gone and gotten myself into?"

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"Hey, Serena!" Raye's voice stopped the girl in question in her tracks as she crossed the school-yard.

The raven-haired priestess ran up to her, followed by Amy.

"That wasn't a very nice story you wrote, Miss Moon," she said.

"Well, I'm sorry if it offended you, _Sailor Mars_, but it's the truth, or an altered version of it. Apparently, some people just can't stand the truth." And with a toss of her head, Serena turned to go.

Raye caught her arm. "Who's that boy you're always with?"

"None of your business. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get home, or Mum will be worried."

The two Scouts watched her go. Then Amy shouted after her, "That wasn't very impressive, you know, saving someone for your own benefit!"

Serena stopped abruptly. "What did you say?"

"You just saved that lady to show us you didn't have to be Sailor Moon! And then getting your picture on TV... that's the worst publicity-seeking stunt I've ever heard of!"

Serena was shaking now, but whether it was from anger, shock, or hurt, she wasn't sure. She was definitely angry, though, at Raye, at Amy, at herself, and at something more.

"How... dare... you?" Each word was said carefully, in a tone that showed no emotion.

"Like you said," Raye said with a sneer. "Some people just can't stand to hear the-"

The sound of the slap echoed across the school grounds. Pupils, teachers and parents alike turned to see what was going on. Raye struggled to her feet, holding the side of her face.

"Why don't you let the whole world know who I _was_, Mars? I don't care anymore! I don't even know what you're doing here! And I don't need you. I never did. So leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone." With that, Serena stormed out the gates, bursting into tears as soon as she was out of hearing distance. 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

Haruko was outraged. How dare they treat her sister like that? She hastily made an excuse for leaving to her parents and ran after Serena – or at least, that was where most people thought she was going. Hiding in an alleyway, she checked the coast was clear before pulling a locket out of her pocket.

"Sun Power, Make Up!"

They were going to pay. Oh, yes; they were going to regret everything they'd done.

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"How was school today, Serena?" Ikuko asked as her daughter trooped into the living room.

Was it her imagination, or did her daughter look as if she'd been crying?

"Okay, I guess," The girl mumbled.

Her mother gave her a concerned look. "What's the matter?"

"I had an argument with someone."

"Oh. Oh, well, I'm sure it will all blow over soon."

_"No, it won't blow over. I know that much. But I wish it would! I really wish it would!"_

___**X X X X**__**  
><strong>_

Nephrite was extremely annoyed to discover Zoycite sound asleep on his bed when he returned from reporting to Queen Beryl.

_"Now why did she have to choose __my__ bed to take a nap on?"_ He thought angrily.

_"Because all the other rooms are empty and there isn't a sofa,"_ A voice in his head shot back.

_"Well, where am_I _supposed to sleep? On the floor?"_

_"That might be the only option left to you."_

"The things that idiot puts me through... first doing everything in her power to drive me mad... then blackmailing me into letting her stay... now this!" he grumbled as he rummaged through his wardrobe for anything he could use as a pillow.

As he very carefully closed the window – more for his benefit than hers, he told himself, because sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable enough without a draught blowing in – Zoycite suddenly stirred and moaned something that sounded like "Malachite".

Nephrite froze. The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up and start an argument all over again. He hated long, drawn-out "discussions" in the middle of the night.

To his relief, she settled down again without waking up.

"Malachite, I'm cold," she said suddenly.

_"S__he's__ cold?__ SHE'S cold?!__ She's forcing me to sleep on the floor and she's complaining that SHE'S cold? Well, really! Is it any wonder I hate her?"_

Still...

Wondering what in the world had gotten into him, and if Zoycite's madness was contagious, Nephrite pulled the sheet over her carefully. She still didn't wake up. 

**X X X X  
><strong> 

The first thing Zoycite knew when she woke up was that, wherever she was, she wasn't in Malachite's castle. Confused, she stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes before the events of the day before came back to her. A weak smile appeared on the female General's face at the thought of how Nephrite had reacted to her blackmailing him. To finally have something she could torment him with would almost make living in the same house as him bearable. But it was inevitable that he would find out eventually, and then what would happen to her?

With this (not-so) happy thought in mind, she jumped out of the bed. She got quite a shock when she landed on something alive, something that yelped and struggled.

"Well, _that's_ a fine "good morning"!" Nephrite gasped, holding his stomach as he glared up at her.

"Ummm... sorry. I... didn't know you were there."

"Well, you could have used your eyes!"

**X X X X****  
><strong> 

"So, you never thought this would happen?" Obsidian gave Haruko a worried look out of the corner of her eye.

_"No. I am time's guardian, not time's mistress. I cannot control it. However, I knew that something would happen to keep them apart. This is not what I was expecting."_

"Well, what effect will it have on the future?"

_"That I do not know. But I will attempt to find out."_

Obsidian pressed a button on her communicator and put it back in her school bag.

"If Sailor Pluto didn't foresee this happening..." Haruko said softly, staring up at the sky thoughtfully.

"The future might be changing," Obsidian finished.


	9. Chapter 8

"Those two..." Serena muttered, not watching where she was going as she crossed the street. "They've ruined my whole day!"

"LOOK OUT!" Someone shouted suddenly.

Startled, she looked up, to see a red car coming straight towards her. Something hit her and knocked her out of the way. The car skidded to a halt. Dazed, Serena looked up to see who had rescued her.

"What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?" Her worst enemy demanded through gritted teeth.

"Are you out of your mind?" The driver of the car shouted angrily.

"I just wasn't looking where I was going." Serena snapped, before picking up her books and storming off.

_"I've heard blondes are supposed to be stupid, but really, all the blondes in THIS city seem to be first-class idiots!"_ Nephrite thought, starting his car again as if he hadn't nearly been given a heart attack.

**X X X X**

When he returned to his mansion, Nephrite found there a state of affairs that did little to help his blood pressure. While he had been away at a business meeting, Zoycite had undertaken to turn the place upside down, and was currently going through one of the unused rooms with more zeal than anything else, while one of Nephrite's youma hovered in the background worriedly, powerless to stop her for fear of being ice-crystalled, but also terrified of what the master would say.

"Just what, exactly, are you doing?" Nephrite asked in a dangerous voice.

"I am spring cleaning this place, that's what I'm doing!"

"And who gave you permission to redecorate MY house, which you are only a guest in – an _unwelcome_ guest, it must be added – because you felt like it?"

"I may be a guest here, unwelcome or otherwise, but that doesn't mean I can't do any housework!"

"_You_? Housework? Hah! House_wrecking _would be closer to the truth. You're creating a fine dust storm, pulling those covers off things! And what possible use will I ever have for all these -"

He broke off abruptly, for Zoycite had teleported away.

_"How like her."_

**X X X X**

"4 times 8?" Ikuko asked, keeping one eye on the pot bubbling away on the stove.

"32." Serena answered, both eye firmly closed so no one could accuse her of cheating.

"5 times 8?"

"40."

"6 times 8?"

"48."

"7 times 8?"

"57."

"7 times 8?"

"57." Serena repeated.

"Even I know that 7 times 8 is _not_ 57." Kenji snorted, not bothering to look up from the newspaper article he was reading.

"Then... is it 58?"

Ikuko groaned. "Sometimes I really wonder if she's our daughter."

"What is 8 plus 8?" Kenji asked.

"16."

"So, what is 48 plus 8?"

"56."

"You were only wrong by one – the first time." Shingo smirked.

Serena glared at him.

**X X X X**

"Serena! Shingo! I'm off to the shops." Ikuko called up the stairs. "Try to be good, but if you absolutely _must_ murder each other, please do it in the garden. I don't want to come back to a wrecked house."

"No worries, Mum." Shingo shouted down to her. "I'm playing a video game. Rena's in her room."

"Serena?"

No answer. Ikuko sighed. "Oh well, I suppose she's in a mood again. Strange, she was never like that before, not until a few days ago..."

Serena was not in her room. She had sneaked out her window – something she had been doing quite a lot of lately – and gone to the park to do her homework.

"I met Raye and Amy again today." She announced, sitting down under a tree.

"And had a near-death encounter with someone's car." Jadeite added, trying to avoid smiling.

"You saw that?"

"Yes. Not clearly, but there was something very familiar about that car... and it's driver. And there was most definitely something familiar about the silly girl who walked out in front of it without looking."

Serena pouted. "Not you, too!"

"What do you mean, not me too?"

"Everyone's been laughing at me today! Amy even accused me of saving that woman for _publicity_!"

"And what did you say?"

"I can't remember. I was really angry, I know that much." She paused for a minute. "I guess I realised more than ever just how few true friends I have. Just Molly, Umino and you." 

"You're probably the first real friend I've ever had."

"Didn't you ever have any friends?"

"I suppose when we were younger, Zoycite was my friend."

"Who's Zoycite?"

"My sister."

"Oh." Serena thought about this, then pulled a face. "You were friends with your _sister_? I thought brothers and sisters were meant to hate each other!"

"Now, we do. Mostly because she decided when she was about fifteen that she was too grown-up to need her brother to be her friend."

"My brother's _never_ been my friend!"

Jadeite had to smile at that. "Then there was Diana. She was my friend."

"Who's Diana?"

"A girl I grew up with. She was killed in a fight. I wasn't able to save her."

Serena was silent for several minutes. "I'm sorry." She said at last. "I didn't know."

"How could you have?"

Jadeite turned his head to face her and their eyes met. For some strange reason, Serena suddenly found herself frozen, only not with fear this time. Instead it was with something she'd never felt before, something she didn't understand. Jadeite leaned towards her.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything?" Scarlett's voice interrupted them.

Startled, both looked up. Scarlett and Haruko were standing a few metres away, watching, Haruko with a smile on her face that she was trying desperately – and unsuccessfully – to hide. Two others girls stood behind them. Serena turned bright red.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to think of any reason that would explain it.

"We've seen you come here after dinner, and you said you were grounded. So, you must be sneaking out without your parents knowing." Haruko explained.

"Then we saw your mother get back just before we came here, so I'd advise you return home before she finds you missing." Scarlett added.

Serena gasped. "Oh no! I'll be grounded for LIFE if Mum finds out I've left!"

**X X X X**

"Children? I'm home!" Ikuko called, opening the front door, holding several shopping bags, full to bursting.

"Okay, Mum!" Shingo answered, his eyes still glued to his computer screen.

"Serena?"

No answer. Ikuko sighed and set the bags down.

"Serena, dear?"

Still no answer.

Her mother pushed her door open and gasped.

"SERENA!" 


	10. Chapter 9

Shingo flew into his sister's room at his mother's shout.

"What's wrong, Mum?"

Wordlessly, Ikuko pointed at the open window and the empty room. They exchanged glances. There was the sound of the front door opening.

"Honey? I'm home!" Kenji's voice shouted.

"You're not going to like what I have to tell you!" His wife yelled down at him.

Shingo shook his head.

"Boy, Serena, are you in trouble!"

"What's the matter?" Kenji demanded worriedly as soon as he saw the look on Ikuko's face.

"Serena -" She began, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

Serena stuck her head in to check if the coast was clear and froze.

"SERENA USAGI TSUKINO!" Her mother yelled.

The girl winced, knowing there was no way out now.

"GET INTO THAT LIVING ROOM THIS INSTANT IF YOU EVER WANT TO LEAVE THIS HOUSE ALIVE AGAIN!"

"Whose boss are you?" Serena muttered.

"You watch your step, young lady! Just remember this: I brought you into this world, and I am getting extremely close to taking you out of it again!"

"Will someone _please_ tell me what is going on?" Kenji interrupted.

"Your daughter took advantage of my absence to sneak out her bedroom window! I only discovered that shocking fact when I went to check on her and found it lying open!"

"Serena, you have done some crazy things before, but _this_ one takes the biscuit!"

**X X X X**

Meanwhile, another argument was taking place.

"How DARE Serena hit me!" Raye shouted wrathfully.

Amy and Luna kept out of the priestess's way as she paced back and forth. Wondering what all the noise was about, Raye's grandfather opened the door a crack and peeked in. He hastily decided that, whatever the problem was, it would be best to leave well enough alone. He knew his granddaughter when she was in this sort of mood.

"You knew she wasn't likely to take you transferring to her school well." Luna pointed out.

"I know, but..." Raye paused, thinking. "I want to find out who that boy she's with is."

"The question's obvious." Amy stated. "Why? You've already got Darien."

"That isn't why I want to find out who he is. She's happy now she's got a boyfriend. So, I want to end that new-found happiness. In other words, break them up."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Luna asked.

"I'm not sure yet. But I will find a way, make no mistake about it."

**X X X X**

Serena lay wide awake on her bed, listening to her alarm clock ticking and her father snoring in her parents' room down the hall. She'd been grounded for at least a month, during a week of which she was to be schooled at home. Her punishment wasn't what bothered her most, though – it was that she wouldn't be able to see Jadeite any more. She hadn't got the faintest idea what it was she felt for him, but she wondered if he felt the same way. After all, he'd been about to kiss her in the park, so he had to feel _something_ for her.

"What happened?"

Surprised, she sat up. Jadeite had materialised in front of her window.

"I've been grounded, and if I ever get caught breaking the rules they've set for me... Well, you might as well start arranging my funeral now, because I'll never be able to remember them all."

Jadeite smiled and shook his head. "I doubt it's as bad as that."

"It's worse, if anything. Mum's going to have Molly walk me to and from school, and after school's over I'm not allowed to leave the house unless it's a matter of life or death."

"Serena?" Ikuko's voice called from down the hall. "Are you talking to someone?"

"Uhh... No, I just knocked over my alarm clock. You probably heard me saying "Where is it?" or something like that."

"Well, all right." Her mother didn't sound convinced. "Just find it quickly and go back to sleep, please! It's past midnight!"

There were no further questions. Serena breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Jadeite.

"You'd better get out of here before someone decides to investigate." She whispered.

Jadeite nodded, then suddenly leaned forward and gave her a kiss. Then he vanished, leaving a very startled Serena. She collapsed onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

_"He kissed me... Does that mean... he loves me?"_


	11. Chapter 10

Zoycite edged open the door to the kitchen. No one there. Of course, considering it was 1 o'clock at night, maybe that was only to be expected. She had calmed down since the previous morning, when she had thrown a tantrum and decided to rearrange the furniture, but, having stayed away from the mansion until now for fear of being fried by Nephrite, she was understandably hungry. Where her unwilling host was now, she had no idea, so she was being extra cautious and opted against turning on the light. That proved a mistake. It was only a few minutes before her arm caught on something – which promptly fell over and smashed.

A few seconds later, the room was flooded with light as Nephrite threw the door open and flipped the switch to "on". Zoycite stood frozen in the glare of both light and General.

"So, you finally decided to come back and torment me again?"

"Actually, I was looking for something to eat." She shot back.

"And, of course, you never thought to ask permission."

"Hey, I thought _I_ was meant to be the sarcastic one!" She complained.

Nephrite ignored her, instead looking at the jammy mess on the floor. "What happened?"

"I didn't turn the light on and hit something."

"Yes, and you're going to clean it up, too. That is, if you don't want to end up on the streets."

Zoycite wondered if now would be a good time to use her threat to blackmail him into letting her off the hook, but chose not to. He was in a bad enough temper to blast her if she tried any funny tricks. Getting a mop out of the closet, she cleared the mess up as quickly as she could while Nephrite watched.

"Satisfied?"

He nodded, one eye on the clock, which was steadily heading for two. "Now, is it possible that I might be allowed even a few hours of sleep? I had to help rectify the disaster you made out of those rooms, report to Queen Beryl, attend a meeting... and now this! So either keep quiet, or out you go!"

Zoycite was about to retort, when something occurred to her. "Hey, where am _I _supposed to sleep?"

An uneasy silence fell over the kitchen.

"I forgot about that." Nephrite admitted at last. "But don't think for one minute I'm sleeping on the floor again just so you can have_ my_ bed!"

"Well, _I'm_ not sleeping on the floor! Why don't you have two beds?"

"What possible use would I have for two beds? I never thought anyone would be staying here!"

"Well, why don't you ask the stars about it?" Zoycite retorted in a voice that just dripped with sarcasm. "Or maybe toss a coin?"

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny. I'm not sleeping on the floor a second time, and that is that!"

"Neither am I!"

A staring competition resulted. For about ten minutes, the two Generals scowled at each other, neither willing to back down. At last, Nephrite gave an exasperated sigh and turned towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out to the car. I'll spend the night there."

**X X X X**

Breakfast the next morning was probably the most silent meal in history. Zoycite was still angry with Nephrite for shouting at her, and he had had a most uncomfortable night out in his car. You could have heard a feather fall in the room as each ate their breakfast while steadfastly ignoring the other's existence. The silence would have continued, too, had something not happened.

It started when Nephrite and Zoycite reached for the coffee pot at the same time and their fingers touched. At once, Nephrite drew back like he'd just been bitten. Zoycite glared at him.

"I don't think you had to do that." She growled.

"Well, I don't like you being anywhere near me. And that was just a bit too near me for my liking."

"If you think for one minute that I..."

"No wonder Malachite left you! As some humans seem to be fond of saying, you would try the patience of Job... whoever Job is!"

"You're the one who's so unbearable no one can even stand staying in the same house as you!"

"You're the one who hasn't got a friend in the world and who was so blind that she couldn't even see her lover had found some other girl!"

"Oh, and I suppose you saw this coming a century ago or something!"

By now they were both standing facing each other, yelling at the tops of their voices. Nephrite was keeping his hands firmly at his side in case he would hit her, Zoycite was keeping as far away from him as possible. She knew she would come off worst if it came to a fight.

"Why, you... You know something? You deserved what Malachite did to you, and in fact, you deserve a lot more!"

"How... How dare you?" Zoycite gasped, before running from the room so he couldn't see she was crying.

Nephrite suddenly wondered if he'd gone a little too far.

**X X X X**

"Serena? Serena!"

Serena came back down to earth with a start. Molly stared at her.

"What happened? It was like you couldn't hear a word of what I said!"

"I was thinking."

"Thinking?" Molly put her hand on Serena's forehead. "No, you don't seem to have a temperature. But since when do you think about anything but boys and food?"

"I was thinking about a boy."

"Really? Who? Anyone I know?"

"No..."

"Do you like him? Oh, wait, of course you do. Well, does he like you? Have you even spoken to him?" Molly had learned it paid to ask Serena that sort of question.

"Yes, I've spoken to him, yes, I like him, and I've no idea if he likes me."

Her friend looked somewhat disappointed. "Well, do you think he does?"

"I just don't know!" Serena groaned. "He nearly kissed me in the park yesterday" - "_and did kiss me that night"_ she added mentally - "but does that mean he likes me?"

"'Rena," Molly stopped and faced her friend. "I think that if a boy kisses you, it means he likes you."

"But what if he doesn't?" Serena wailed.

"Well, why don't you try and find out?"

"How?"

Unknown to the two girls, Raye and Darien were watching and listening. And so were Haruko and Onyx... 


	12. Chapter 11

"I'm not sure about this." Haruko insisted. "We could get in real trouble!"

"Make that, we _will_ get in real trouble and you'll be right." Onyx answered with a mischievous grin. "Obsidian doesn't like anyone going behind her back... which is why I keep doing exactly that."

"Why?"

"Try spending a thousand years obeying her every instruction to the letter and see if you know why."

"Okay, I get the picture. Now, when do we start Operation: Teach-Raye-And-Friends-To-Mind-Their-Own-Business and Mission: Show-Serena-She-Can-Still-Transform?"

"Right away." Then she paused.

"You _did_ check where the best places for our surprises, didn't you?"

"Why do you think I transformed?"

**X X X X**

Zoycite stayed up in Nephrite's room until she heard his car drive away.

_"How dare he talk to me like that? How dare he?" _She thought angrily, trying to decide what would be the best way to get her revenge.

An idea sprang into her mind all of a sudden and an evil grin appeared on her face.

"You'd better beware when you come back, Nephrite. I've a little surprise planned for you..."

**X X X X**

"Where have you two been today?" Obsidian demanded, glaring at the mischief-makers who had just crashed into the kitchen.

"Oh, nowhere special." Haruko answered innocently. "Isn't that right, Onyx?"

The brown-haired girl nodded. "Yeah, nowhere special."

"You weren't in school all day." Aquamarine reminded them with a frown as she opened the oven door. "'Sidian had to make up an excuse to get you out of trouble."

"We found something a bit more interesting to do than schoolwork." Haruko smirked.

"What?" Obsidian inquired, placing one elbow on the table and supporting her chin with her hand.

"None of your business."

There would probably have been murder done had Aquamarine not brought dinner over to the table just then.

"Here we are!" She said brightly, setting the chicken pie and gravy down.

**X X X **X

Five minutes later, Haruko had finished her slice of pie, while the others had scarcely begun.

"Can I have more?" She asked, ignoring the look her head General gave her.

"Certainly." Aquamarine replied obligingly, cutting her a generous slice. "Do you want any more gravy?"

"Yes... please." The last word was only tacked on to avoid a lecture. "What is it? Chicken?"

"No, mushroom. With some wolf's foot added."

That was said at the worst possible time, for Haruko had just taken a big bite of her second slice, and promptly gagged.

"What's wrong, Princess?" Onyx demanded, shocked.

"WOLF'S FOOT?"

"Oh, don't worry. That's just the name of a herb that grew around the Moon Palace, and we brought some of it with us."

"It's like what humans call "club moss"." Obsidian added. "It gives the sauce a nice tang."

"And it gave ME a very nice _turn_! I really thought I'd been eating a wolf's foot!"

The girls laughed at her mistake. Onyx glanced at the clock.

_"If I'm not mistaken, things should begin to happen right about... now!"_

**X X X X**

Meanwhile, Raye had just arrived back in her shrine. She had scarcely sat down to do her homework, however, when she leapt up again with a yell, startling Luna awake.

"What's the matter?" The cat asked.

"Someone put a whole lot of pins on my chair!"

**X X X X**

Amy was also in for a shock. She opened her bedroom door... and triggered an elaborate trap that resulted in a mop hitting her across the face, which made her stagger backwards, before falling into the wardrobe, making the door slam shut.

Her mother, hearing the tremendous amount of screeching, came running up the stairs. She gazed, bewildered, at the mess.

"Amy, whatever were you thinking of when you rigged this up? And where are you?"

"In here! In here! I can't get out!"

**X X X X**

Any hopes Nephrite might have had of there being peace and quiet when he returned home were dashed as soon as he walked in the door – and got an unexpected, _freezing cold_ shower.

"What the...?" He spluttered, jumping back.

It was easy to see what had happened. Someone had rigged a bucket of water on top of the inside of the door, where it would fall the instant someone opened said door. And it was even easier to figure out who had done this.

"Zoycite, wherever you are, I'll have you know that THIS MEANS WAR!"

**X X X X**

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The clock in the hall continued ticking as silence reigned over the Tsukino household. In the 11 o'clock darkness of her room, Serena listened, holding her breath. Nothing. Not even a squeak out of any of the rooms.

The girl crept over to her window and pushed it open noiselessly. Then she paused, before tiptoeing back to her bed and arranging her pillows under the covers so it looked as if someone was sleeping there. So long as no one looked to closely, that is.

Climbing onto the tree branch beyond, she edged the window shut again, before jumping down and slipping as quietly as she could out onto the street beyond. She had no idea where she was going, or why, but she had the strangest feeling that she had to do something.


	13. Chapter 12

To a human observer, the sinister-looking graveyard was empty of all forms of life. This was about to change.

Beryl and Malachite materialized in front of a white marble headstone. The statue of an angel stood on top of it, its head hidden in its hands, as if it were weeping for the fate of the corpse it guarded.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Beryl asked.

"Certain, my Queen."

Satisfied, Beryl turned to the statue and recited the spell her mistress had taught her. For a moment, all stayed as it had been. Then two claw-like hands burst from the earth, gripped the sides of the grave, and the creature they belonged to soon followed.

It was best described as an angel, but there was nothing angelic about it – it had long, raven-like wings, grey skin, black hair, and black eyes. Its dress appeared to be made of blood. It sat up, beat its wings once or twice as if to be sure they still worked, and turned to the two humans that had awoken it.

It bowed respectfully to Beryl as identical creatures crawled from the other graves.

"We thank you for freeing us-s-s, Mi-s-sstres-s-ss-s-s," it hissed, "We are eternally in your debt."

The Queen of the Dark Kingdom smiled evilly as the other monsters followed the first one's example.

**XXXX**

"Strange-coloured mist they have here in Japan," Nurse Sullivan reflected, frowning at the reddish fog that surrounded her. "Never seen anything like it. Maybe it's what they call smog?"

She took a step forward and stopped. Maybe it was her imagination, and it probably was, but she could have sworn she heard a footstep. And was that a figure standing over there?

"Anyone there?"

Silence. The woman hesitated. This was the shortest route back to her apartment from the hospital, but she had never liked it. Maybe it was something to do with that graveyard she had to pass. She had never been superstitious, but there was something unnerving about that place. Still, she had to get home, preferably before midnight.

Another odd sound. Nurse Sullivan instantly decided to take a safer, if longer, way home. No sense in walking straight into a would-be attacker. She turned and froze. The fog had thickened. And something seemed to be walking out of it towards her.

She screamed and whirled round. Another creature loomed out of the red fog. This time she saw what it was: an angel, wearing a red dress, with black wings nearly as long as it was tall. It reached silently towards her.

Now, she didn't scream. She couldn't. The angels-that-were-anything-but had seen to that.

Beryl smiled as she watched the carnage unfold. Yes, she had no doubt that the just-freed creatures would be very valuable weapons for her army.

**X X X X**

Serena didn't see the loose stone on the pavement until she had stubbed her toe on it. Gritting her teeth, holding her wounded foot and trying not to scream, she hopped about for a few minutes until the pain eased. It was just as well no one was nearby to see her, or they would have thought she had gone crazy.

At last, the girl stood up and looked around. The strange feeling that had brought her here was still there, but so was something else: fear. There was a red fog creeping over the city, and it unnerved her.

"I wonder, what would happen if I walked into that, and it got so thick I couldn't see where I was going?" she asked herself aloud, attempting to keep her mind occupied so she wouldn't have time to be afraid – and also to stall for time and avoid stepping into the mist for as long as possible. "Would I just vanish without a trace? Or would something creep up on me? Hmmm, have to remember that as a story to tell Shingo this Halloween. That would scare him. I wouldn't be able to see it, but it could see me, and it would come nearer... and nearer... and... Oh! I've got _myself_ scared!"

Serena laughed nervously, for the fog had now engulfed her even though she herself had never moved, confirming her idea that it was spreading.

"I bet if Raye saw this, she'd panic and run. How about that? I'm probably braver than Miss Mars, and she calls _me_ a coward!"

"What are you doing here?" A voice demanded suddenly.

"Oh!" Serena gasped, spinning round.

Words could not tell how relieved she was when she saw it was only Jadeite.

"I don't know," she confessed. "I just felt I had to come here. Like... something brought me here."

"Odd. I felt the same."

A scream from somewhere not far away shattered Serena's hope that this was just some strange imagining on the part of both of them – though even she had to admit it was a bit of a coincidence.

**X X X X**

The scream echoed in Aquamarine's dreams, waking her up instantly. She lay still for several minutes, wondering if it had just been a dream too. But an uneasy feeling told her it hadn't, and the past ten thousand years had taught her to pay attention to those kinds of feelings.

"Obsidian?" She said.

No answer. The blue-haired girl sat up and looked across at the bed opposite. Obsidian was sound asleep, entirely unaware of what was happening.

"Obsidian?" she repeated, louder.

That woke the dark-haired girl up.

"What?" Obsidian demanded, annoyed.

"I think that someone might be in danger somewhere."

"Oh? And how do you know that? A little bird flew down and told you, I suppose?"

Aquamarine glared at her.

"Very funny. I just have a feeling that something strange is going on."

Muttering and complaining about how it was impossible to get a good night's sleep in this house, Obsidian got up. She knew better than to disregard her Second-In-Command's feelings, but why, oh why did they have to come at such outlandish times?

All the noise awoke Onyx, who was sleeping on the top bunk of Aquamarine's bed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning.

"What, it's morning already?" she asked, looking around in surprise.

"No, actually, Miss Visionary here had one of her visions," Obsidian said as she laced up her boots.

Obsidian was always sarcastic when she wasn't happy about something. And she was rarely happy about something.

**X X X X**

When Serena finally found the body, she was the one who screamed, and almost fainted. Jadeite was at her side in an instant. He grimaced.

"I don't think I want to know what did that."

The woman, who was wearing a nurse's uniform, was lying on her back, her mouth open in a silent scream of fear and agony. Her neck had been snapped, and so had both legs, if the way they were twisted were any indication. What was undoubtedly worst, however, was the fact that her throat had been ripped out. Blood covered her body and the pavement.

At that moment, something stepped out of the fog. Serena began to scream again before she realised it was only Scarlett. The odd thing about her was, she was wearing a uniform similar to Jadeite's. The only difference was that it had black lining.

"Who are you?" Jadeite demanded, pushing Serena out of the way.

"I am Obsidian, one of the Guardians of the Sun Princess," Scarlett said, not bothering to look at him and instead kneeling down next to the body.

"So... is that how you knew who I was?" Serena said as a few pieces of the puzzle surrounding her began to fall into place. "And who's the Sun Princess?"

"That is unimportant. What is important is that someone has just been murdered here, and not by any human, either."

"By what, then?" Jadeite asked coldly. He did not like this mysterious woman who had appeared out of thin air – er, thick fog – and taken command of the situation.

"A race of creatures called the Schreail," Scarlett/Obsidian said. "They were banished by the Queen of the Moon centuries before the fall of the Silver Millennium, so it is no surprise that you do not know of them."

Jadeite went very white. "Schreail? Did you say 'Schreail'?"

"Yes. Haven't you got ears?"

"But… if this was done by a Schreail… then that means…" He stopped and appeared to be fighting to stay calm. "I overhead Beryl talking to Malachite."

Serena wanted to ask who Malachite was, but didn't dare interrupt. Scarlett/Obsidian listened with a very serious look on her face.

"Beryl said that she had found some of the Schreail and intended to find a spell that would awaken them."

"And you did nothing to stop her?"

"I didn't know what the Schreail were then or what they could do! And it was none of my business, anyway!"

"None of your—"

"Please, don't fight!" Serena pleaded, being careful not to look at the corpse. "We've got enough problems as it is!"

"Exactly," Obsidian said. "And we'll need you to help us solve them."

"WHAT?!"


	14. Chapter 13

"WHAT?!"

Serena stared at Scarlett/Obsidian in disbelief.

"You want _me_ to get rid of these... these... whatever-they're-calleds?"

"Schreail," Obsidian supplied.

"And why can't you fight them?" Jadeite was still suspicious of Obsidian.

"Because only someone of Moon blood can truly destroy them. While our Princess is part-Moon, she is also the Sun Princess."

"But how can she be..." Serena began.

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Right now, it's too dangerous to stay out here."

She turned to leave, but paused. "Oh, and I'd better give you this now." She threw a locket to Serena, who only just managed to catch it.

"What is this?"

"Your new transformation locket."

With that, Obsidian vanished.

"At least now I know who she is and how she knew who I was," Serena murmured, staring at the locket.

It was more elaborate than her original brooch, with a strange diamond in the shape of a crescent moon in the centre.

"I don't trust her," Jadeite said quietly, staring after Obsidian.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. There was just something about her that's unnerving."

**X X X X**

An ear-piercing screech echoed through the mansion. Nephrite smiled. Obviously, his latest plan for revenge had worked perfectly.

Zoycite stormed into the kitchen, looking like she might commit murder at any second.

"Just look what you've done to my hair!" She cried in a rage. "It's _purple_!"

Purple it was, a dark, bluish purple, with some places still the original copper colour. The morning sun that streamed in the window caught it and made her look like she was about to leave for a Halloween party.

"What are you so upset about?" Nephrite asked with a smirk. "Personally, I think it's an improvement!"

"Why, you...!" Zoycite began, then stopped and summoned up an ice crystal.

Nephrite dodged it easily, since she was nearly blinded with anger, and retaliated with a laser blast of his own, that was slightly harder for her to escape, though she managed it.

Five minutes and one wrecked kitchen later, the two enemies stopped attempting to blast each other to survey damage, sulk and lick their wounds.

"Thank you for adding something else to the long list of things I've to buy, repair or have replaced," Nephrite said. "Since you invited yourself to live here, I have had to spend more money than I ever had before! You can't stand me any more than I can stand you, so why the heck don't you just leave? We'd both be better off if you did!"

"Fine, then, I'll leave and I'll never come back!" Zoycite retorted.

"That's the best news I've heard in centuries!"

"Well, I'm glad _you're_ happy!"

With that, she got up and stormed out the door, slamming it so loudly the house shook. A few seconds later, the front door slammed, equally loudly.

"There's another good reason she had to go," Nephrite said, glaring after her. "Any more of that and she'd bring the place down round us!"

Then he returned to wondering if he could possibly use his magic to mend the damage, and trying unsuccessfully to ignore the voice in his head, telling him that he should not have said what he had.

**X X X X**

"Serena, wake up! Otherwise you'll have to be driven to school!" Ikuko ordered, marching into her daughter's bedroom.

_Snore. Snore. Snore._

"Hmm... Obviously, she's going to be difficult. Well, I have a solution for _that_!"

After making a hasty trip downstairs, Ikuko returned with a soaking wet sponge.

"Serena Tsukino, either you get up this instant, or I'll drop this sponge on you!"

_Snore. Snore. Snore._

The frustrated woman dropped the sponge squarely on Serena's head. The sound of her scream could be heard two blocks away.

"Argh! It's a tidal wave!" Serena screeched, leaping out of her bed in a panic.

"Not quite." Her mother suppressed a grin, picking up the sponge. "Now go and get ready for school. You'll be late again."

"If you'd let me walk to school on my own..." Serena began, but caught Ikuko's eye and wisely decided not to continue.

**X X X X**

"_HARUKA_!" Michiru Kaioh hollered up the stairs. "GET YOUR LAZY REAR DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Yawning, Haruka Ten'ou pushed open her door and gazed, bleary-eyed, down at her cousin.

"What's wrong, Michi?"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yes, it's..." The sandy-haired teenager looked at the clock down the hall. "8:55." It took several moments for this to register with her. "_8:55_?"

"Exactly! There's no time for you to have any breakfast! We've got to get to school, which, by the way, is a mile or so from here, and we've got to get there in_five minutes_! And you're not even dressed yet!"

Haruka shot back into her room and came out pulling her jacket on and holding her trousers.

"I'll get dressed in the bathroom," she said hurriedly, rushing past her green-haired cousin out to the car.

Michiru stared after her.

"But you can't – Oh, never mind. But I don't want to be there when the Head sees you, at school, in your pyjamas! There'll be chaos!"

"There will be chaos across all of Tokyo soon," a voice behind the girl said, making her jump.

"Setsuna!"

The Time Guardian stepped out of the portal and gave Michiru a grave stare.

"A great crisis is arising, and Sailor Moon and Sailor Sun will need the help of the Outer Scouts to defeat it."

"Can't the Inners do anything?" Haruka demanded, reappearing just in time to hear this last part.

"They have betrayed Sailor Moon. It is up to us to assist now."

"We accept," the cousins said together.

**X X X X**

"And then Mum dropped a sponge on my head!" Serena ranted. "You'd think that she would have seen I was asleep, but no!"

Molly sighed.

"She probably just didn't want you to be late again. And – Isn't that Raye and Amy?"

Serena stopped abruptly. Standing a little further on were her three worst enemies, talking.

"Let's avoid them. I don't want to be late home."

"But what does avoiding them or not avoiding them have to do with what time you get home at?" Molly asked, baffled.

**X X X X**

Nephrite was seriously starting to think he was going crazy. When Zoycite was there, he complained that she was always in his way, always destroying something, always giving him a headache. But now, he found that he actually _missed_ having her around, causing trouble!

"Just what is wrong with me?" He grumbled, glancing up at the clock. "Is it that I've gotten so used to her being here that I think that some thing's wrong when she's not here?"

Thunder crashed outside suddenly, making him jump. Rain began pelting down, hitting the windows of the mansion.

Several minutes later, the front door was thrown open and slammed noisily. Then a dripping wet Zoycite stalked into the living room.

"I thought you were leaving," Nephrite said quietly, trying to hide just how glad he was to see her back.

"In _that_?" And she pointed in the direction of the storm outside.

"That only started ten minutes ago. You've been gone since this morning. Whatever reason you had for coming back, it wasn't the storm. In fact, did you leave at all? Or were you just hanging around outside? I thought I saw something earlier. It was you, wasn't it? And, if you're so eager to get away from here, why didn't you when you had the chance?"

A pause.

"Damn you," the female General said at last.

"How original."


	15. Chapter 14

"I don't believe this! I just don't believe it!" Haruka ranted, giving the flat tyre of her car a hearty kick. "I checked this thing out just yesterday and it was in perfect working order! How the he -"

"Watch your language." Michiru reprimanded sharply, gesturing in the direction of Hotaru Tomoe, who was happily reading some grim-looking book, oblivious what had happened.

The three girls had been returning from school to get something to eat and then meet Setsuna in the park, when the car had suddenly burst a tyre. Haruka, predictably, was not impressed.

"But I don't have a spare!" The Scout of Wind cried.

"It's for times like this that there is such a thing as a _mobile phone_, baka!" Her cousin sighed, holding up her phone.

"What's going on?" Hotaru asked, sticking her head out the window, realising for the first time that they were no longer moving.

"A flat tyre, Firefly."

"Oh."

**X X X X**

There were some times when Nephrite really wanted to get rid of that dratted car. This was one of those times. The darn thing refused to start, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the engine. After having spent most of the night and then all of the morning having a fine argument with Zoycite, he was tired, irritable, and did not want to have to deal with something like this.

CRASH! A sudden crashing noise from inside the mansion made him wince. Whatever it was that had been broken, it must have been something big for him to hear it outside.

"Zoycite, if you've destroyed anything else in there, I'll murder you!"

**X X X X**

After having the car towed home, the tyre repaired, and then having a hasty bite to eat, Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru had rushed off to the park, afraid that they would be late. However, someone was late, and it wasn't them.

"Is my watch fast?" Haruka muttered, holding the mechanism up to her ear. "No, it seems to be working all right."

"Maybe 'Suna's late." Hotaru volunteered.

"Setsuna Meioh? LATE?" Michiru echoed, disbelievingly.

"Then where the – _heck_ – is she?" Haruka had to quickly change what she was about to say when she saw the look on her cousin's face.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon."

**X X X X**

Serena was lying on her bed, doodling a heart with the letters S and J in it and wondering if the events of the night before had been just a dream, when a woman wearing a red and black Sailor uniform carrying a strange-looking staff materialised in her room.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Time Gates. I know what the Inner Scouts did, Sailor Moon."

Serena looked at the floor.

"The Outer Scouts would like to protect you and help you in the coming battle. They are currently in the park, waiting. Would you come and meet them?"

"Outer Scouts? Who are they?"

"Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and myself."

Serena considered this.

"All right, I'll come."

**X X X X**

Haruka was pacing back and forth, while Michiru and Hotaru sat on a bench and watched her.

"What is keeping her?" The race driver growled, checking her watch for the umpteenth time.

At that moment, Sailor Pluto appeared a few metres away, accompanied by a blonde girl in a school uniform. Haruka was about to give Pluto a piece of her mind for keeping them waiting, but Michiru, guessing what the other girl was planning on doing, quickly stood up.

"Glad to see you could make it, Setsuna." She stated smoothly, then turned to the ponytailed girl. "Sailor Moon, I presume?"

"Yes..."

Serena looked at the two women – er, one woman and one girl – with interest, then gave the man a confused glance. Strange, she'd never though boys could be Scouts before.

"I am Michiru Kaioh, Sailor Neptune, this is Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn, and this is Haruka Ten'ou, Sailor Uranus." And Michiru pointed to each of her companions in turn. "And you've already met Setsuna Meioh, Sailor Pluto."

Finally succeeding in getting a word in edgeways, Haruka snapped angrily, "What kept you?"

Serena gave a little start when she heard "his" voice, realising suddenly that "he" was actually a girl, too. Just a very boyish girl.

"I was visiting Serena Tsukino, Sailor Moon." Setsuna replied calmly.

"Oh."

**X X X X**

"ZOYCITE!"

Zoycite grinned at Nephrite's yell. Obviously, he had found the broken window.

Five seconds later, the furious General burst into the planetarium – to discover his tormentor carving an unprintable word on the wall. Nephrite had had to endure an awful lot lately, but _this_ was the final straw. He exploded into a fine rage, calling Zoycite every name he knew, telling her in no uncertain terms that even hell wouldn't want her, and saying numerous things that would not bear repeating under any circumstances. Her only reaction was to grin maddeningly.

The sound of Nephrite's hand connecting with Zoycite's face resounded through the room. The former was shocked into silence. He had never intended to go so far as to hit her, and his hand was stinging terribly. He could only imagine what it must have felt like to be on the receiving end. Sudden guilt hit him.

Holding the side of her face, Zoycite sat up and stared at him, for the first time real fear in her eyes. She had never expected this, and she was suddenly scared of what he might do if she angered him any more. Kill her, no doubt. He hated her, there had never been any ambiguity on that subject. Without a word, she got up and ran out past him as if he wasn't there.

**X X X X**

The Screail watched the little group in the park silently. It was absurd to think how close she was to them, and they didn't know a thing. Poor fools. They would pay dearly, of that she was certain.

_Soon... Very soon..._


	16. Chapter 15

Haruko's parents were out, and Haruko was being watched by Onyx and Solaris (her talking cat), to her great annoyance.

"I want to visit my sister!" the Princess whined.

"No," Onyx said, for the twentieth time in as many minutes.

The girl pouted and sat down to sulk, leaving Onyx to her thoughts. After a while, they both became aware of a strange _thud-thud-thud_ sound somewhere in the distance.

"What's that – someone throwing anvils about?" Haruko asked, scrambling off her bed and onto the window seat. Solaris moved out of her way.

Onyx shook her head. All colour had drained from her face and she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "That's… a Schreail signal. It's a telepathic message to tell the others to attack."

"Attack… what?"

A high-pitched scream that seemed to be both very close by and very far away was the only answer she got.

**X X X X**

The scream echoed in Serena's head, jerking her out of a very nice daydream, where she became a Queen and Raye and Amy her personal servants, having to carry out her every wish. She didn't move from her perch on the window sill of her room, wondering what had made her imagine something like a scream. And what was that annoying thud-thud noise that seemed to be either in her head or the room around her?

Then she remembered the scream she had heard the night the Schreail had killed that woman.

_"Oh, no."_

**X X X X**

"HEY!"

Nephrite grimaced at Zoycite's yell. The female General pushed the front door open again, holding her nose.

"I said I was right behind you!" She snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I didn't hear you!"

"You mean you didn't want to hear me! You nearly broke my nose!"

"Well, if you weren't so certain that something bad is going to happen..."

The quarrel was stopped abruptly by a screech from somewhere. Something lunged at them out of the bushes. Without thinking, Nephrite pushed Zoycite to the ground as the thing shot past where her head had been, hitting the side of his face with something sharp. Then it was gone, as if it had never been there.

Zoycite sat up, shocked. "What was that?"

"I've no idea," Nephrite said, pressing his sleeve against the wound caused by the thing.

"That looks bad," Zoycite said, noticing he'd been hurt for the first time.

Was it his imagination or did she sound almost concerned?

**X X X X**

Haruko had also heard the scream in her head. She gasped and jumped back from the window, nearly colliding with Solaris.

"Princess? Princess, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I think..." She broke off as the terrible truth dawned on her. "I think those creatures just killed someone else."

Solaris gasped. "How do you know?"

"Screaming..." She shivered involuntarily at the memory. "I have to go find Mum and Dad. I _h__ave_ to!"

"Go _and_ find, Princess," Onyx corrected her without thinking. "And I heard it too."

Solaris frowned, seeing that she was determined to carry out her plan. "All right, but be careful, Princess, _please_! Onyx, go with her."

"I intend to."

"I always am careful," Haruko said distractedly. "And Onyx, stay here. That's an order from your Princess. Sun Power, Make Up!"

**X X X X**

Serena fingered the brooch that Obsidian/Scarlett had given her, debating whether or not she should transform. Shingo was in his room, playing video games, her parents were in the living room, so she had at least an hour and a half before anyone decided to check on her. Should have, anyway. And this was just a bit too serious to be ignored.

Now she had what she was going to do settled in her mind, all she had to do was figure out how to get out of the house. Her window had been padlocked by her parents, so that was out of the question, as was the front door, so that left only the bathroom window – that, or the window in her parents' room. And she wasn't insane enough to try that.

Tiptoeing into the bathroom and shutting the door was surprisingly easy. What was not going to be easy was opening the window, which needed oiling badly. Still, slowly, Serena succeeded in accomplishing the difficult task (although there were several moments when she was certain her parents had heard the noise she was making and would come barging in to see what was going on).

Outside at last, Serena hid behind the tree outside her bedroom and waited. All was silent in the house. She hadn't been discovered... yet. 

**X X X X**

_The Schreail looked away from its brothers and sisters and their victims, sensing that someone was coming._

_Let them come. We are ready for them. We are ready…__  
><em> 

**X X X X****  
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"What the hell are you doing?"

Haruko – in Sailor Sun form – nearly jumped out of her skin at the whispered question right in her ear.

"What are YOU doing, trying to scare me to death? I told you to stay behind!" she hissed, glaring at Onyx.

The youngest General folded her arms over her chest and glared at her defiantly. "You didn't answer my question. And I will not stand by and let my Princess get herself killed."

"Who's the Princess here?"

"Who's the Princess's Guardian here?"

The two girls engaged in a staring competition for several moments, before Haruko realised the foolishness of standing around like an idiot when there were murderous aliens about – murderous aliens who, she was sure, had just killed for the second time since coming to earth.

"I'm Schreail-hunting, if you must now. You?"

"Princess-watching."

"Obsidian sent you, didn't she." It wasn't a question.

"No, actually. Solaris sent me. You heard her. Obsidian arrived just as I was leaving and wanted to investigate herself. I convinced her to wait until Aquamarine got back from shopping. She insisted I stay too, so I pretended to-"

"Then sneaked out?"

"Uh-huh."

"Boy, are you gonna be in trouble when Obsidian finds out about this!"

"What's more important, saving the world, or worrying about my self-appointed leader's temper?"

**X X X X**

"When I find that little brat, I'm going to hang her, boil her in oil, throw her in a pit of vipers, skin her alive, strangle her...!" Obsidian continued ranting while Aquamarine reviewed the situation.

"Okay, so the Princess's sister went missing. Then her parents went looking for her. They didn't come back, obviously. Then you heard the Schreail signal. Haruko apparently heard it too, because she transformed and went to find out what was going on, then Onyx followed. Is that it?"

"More or less. But Serena sneaked out of _her_ house, so now she's out there somewhere, too. That complicates things."

The conversation was cut off abruptly by Sailor Pluto appearing in the room.

"I've been to Crystal Tokyo," she said, not giving either General a chance to speak. "The future has so far not been affected by what has happened, but any more interferences with the time line, and it is guaranteed to be."

"What do you mean, interferences with the time line?" the mystified Aquamarine wondered.

"Somebody – perhaps a Schreail, perhaps Queen Beryl – has managed to gain some knowledge of the future and is using that knowledge to keep some things from happening and cause others to."

"But what's the point of that?" Obsidian demanded.

No one had an answer.

**X X X X**

**Crystal Tokyo**

"What are you doing?" Rena looked up at Zoey's question.

"Trying to fix this alarm system for my room," she answered, gesturing to a large collection of bells, wires, and other extraordinary devices.

"What's the point of that?"

"It'll ring when someone opens the door at either end of the hall, so I'll get warning of it and will be able to get back in bed before they catch me."

Zoey snorted at the idea. At the grand age of thirteen, she thought her nine-year-old cousin's ideas ridiculous and unnecessary, however intelligent they may be.

"Why aren't you at your home?" Rena asked suddenly.

"Have you any idea how my parents are acting right now?"

"I can guess," the Princess said, rolling her eyes.

There was silence for several moments.

"I didn't like what Sailor Pluto said when she visited earlier," Rena said quietly at last.

"You mean the part about us ceasing to exist if something happens or doesn't happen?"

Another silence.

"I guess it scared me, too," Zoey admitted at last. "That's why I yelled at her. And that's why my parents are so mad now."

"What happens... if it happens?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."


	17. Chapter 16

When Sailor Sun finally found what it was she'd been looking for, she screamed and promptly fainted. Onyx was at her side in an instant. She gagged at the scene before her. Haruko's parents lay dead on the grass of the park. Both their throats had been ripped. They were lying in pools of their own blood.

Sailor Sun began to wake up and Onyx helped her to her feet.

"I think we should leave." The General said quietly.

"You are not going anywhere," a voice behind them hissed.

Both whirled round. Standing a few feet behind them was a Schreail.

"Why?" Sailor Sun shouted. "Why did you kill them like that?"

"They were close to you, _Princess_." The last word was somehow made to sound like a curse. "Now you will die."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Serena – in her Sailor Moon form – announced, appearing seemingly from nowhere.

"Ah, Sailor Moon," the creature said, and smiled unpleasantly. "We were wondering if you were going to come."

"We?" Onyx muttered, sudden worry hitting her.

Several more Schreail floated out of thin air, forming a circle around Onyx, Sailor Sun and Sailor Moon.

"We're in trouble..." Sailor Sun observed.

**X X X X**

"This is definitely going to sting." Zoycite told Nephrite, opening the first aid kit and taking some sort of cream out of it.

"Did you have to use the word "definitely"?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Just thought it would be fair to warn you."

"Ow!"

"Told you so."

"Say that one more time and I'll... I'll..."

"What?"

"I'll think something up then."

"All right, then. I told you so!"

That put Nephrite into quite a difficult situation. He hadn't thought she would repeat it, and so he had no idea of what he was going to do.

"Can't think of anything?"

"Shut up!"

**X X X X**

"You're late, girls," Luna said primly, sitting up on Raye's windowsill.

"I was visiting Darien," Raye answered with some embarrassment.

"And my mother was away," Amy added, leaving what had happened at her house while her mother was away to the imagination.

"Well, never mind. There is something strange going on in Tokyo. I have reason to believe that a group of very dangerous aliens have arrived."

"And what do you want us to do about it?" Raye asked.

"Watch Serena, for one thing. She will most likely find out about them and attempt to stop them."

"Maybe she'll get herself killed. That would save us the trouble of watching her."

"Raye!"

**X X X X**

The Schreail circled closer, making the trapped girls press against each other in a futile effort to get away from them.

"You will die!"

The aliens advanced towards them, ready to pounce.

"Wait!" Sailor Sun shouted unexpectedly.

Everyone stared at her.

"You say you're going to kill us. Well, you are. So, what is there to stop you from telling us why you're here, what you want and where my sister is? We won't be alive to stop you, or even to tell anyone. That way, we finally learn what's going on, and you still get to kill us."

"What are you doing, 'Ruko?" Onyx whispered.

The Schreail seemed to think about this.

"She is right," their leader mused. "Humans always want to know, even if they will not live to profit from it. And they will be unable to tell others what they have learned."

At last, Haruko's plan clicked into place in Onyx's mind. She was playing for time, in the hope that Obsidian and Aquamarine would come to rescue them before they could be killed, and that they would discover what these creatures wanted at the same time. Of course, she had already heard about them from Obsidian, but still...

"We are from a faraway planet," the leader began. "It was too small. We wanted more power. We wanted to take over the universe. So we left, and came to the planets in this system. By then, we were low on energy, so we needed to gather more."

"Is that why you're killing people?" Sailor Moon scowled.

Ignoring her, the Schreail continued.

"We were banished by the Queen of the Moon Kingdom. She thought she had sent us far away from this system, but our Queen had a different plan in mind. She saw to it that we would instead fall below the surface of the planet called Earth, to sleep for ten thousand years. Now, we have been awoken, and we will finally conquer the universe. For us to succeed in this mission, we need energy, and so does our new Queen."

"That's why you killed my parents and sister," Sailor Sun finished.

"Correct."

"And that's why you're going to destroy the earth."

"Again, correct. The world will be a better place without humans to ruin it."

"What, and you're _not_ ruining it? There are an awful lot of evil humans out there, you can't deny that. But the last thing anyone needs is a whole crowd of even more evil creatures trying to kill them! And besides, you can't judge everyone by the actions of a few. On the whole, humans are good..."

"SILENCE!"

Haruko fell silent, but she was smiling oddly, something that Onyx found rather disconcerting.

"Kill them," the lead Schreail said, turning to her minions.

"May I speak?" Haruko asked.

"You have said plenty as it is!"

"Pleease?"

"…What is it you want to say this time?"

"You're doing what most would-be dictators do: making some silly, glaring mistake that will lead to complete and utter failure."

"And that is?"

"You forgot to _look behind you_!"

The Schreail leader spun round (which meant Sailor Moon had to dodge its wings), just in time to be given a good hard kick across the face by Sailor Uranus. She then summoned up her Space Sword and charged at the other Schreail, none of whom felt like staying in her path.

"More annoyances!" one of them growled as Sailors Neptune, Pluto and Saturn joined the fray.

"I hope you know that I'm going to murder you when this is over – both of you!" a very familiar and very angry voice said in Onyx's ear.

"I love you, too," the girl said sarcastically, a comment Obsidian ignored.

The Schreail were hardly having a good time of it – Sailor Uranus was attempting to behead any of them who came within striking range, Sailor Neptune was using her Deep Submerge attack to drown as many as possible, Sailors Pluto and Saturn were protecting Sailor Moon, who was of no help at all, and Obsidian and Onyx were trying to protect Sailor Sun, who was quite determined not to be protected and wanted to join in the fight.

One by one, the Schreail fled. Their leader paused, before turning and glaring at the Scouts.

"We will be back," she snarled, before she vanished too.

"Goodbye and good riddance!" Sailor Uranus shouted after them.

At that moment, Haruko suddenly noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Aquamarine?"

As if on cue, the girl in question raced up. She was followed by Jadeite.

"You're late," Onyx said. "We just defeated them without your help."

"And _we_ also defeated some of them – without your help!" Aquamarine said triumphantly.

"WHAT?"

"Several broke into your home, Princess. I'd gone to get help and saw them."

"But why bother attacking her home?" Sailor Neptune wondered aloud.

"No idea." Aquamarine shrugged.

"That reminds me," Haruko said, giving the Outers suspicious looks. "What took you so long?"

"Some joker blew up my car last night!" Sailor Uranus grumbled.

"And I felt like calling the police and having you arrested for swearing in public – very loudly, too!" Neptune added.

"Haven't I got a right to say what I like?"

"Not when: 1. Innocent ears are listening; and 2. People are trying to sleep!"

**X X X X**

Meanwhile, Jadeite was telling Serena about what had happened.

"So after they ran away, we came here, but by that time, you'd defeated them," he finished.

"And I hope I never see any of them again!" Serena shuddered.

She was now wondering how she was going to say what she wanted to without anyone else overhearing – and also very worried. Taking a deep breath, she summoned up all the courage she could. It was now or never.

"Jadeite... Do you love me?"


	18. Chapter 17

"Do you love me?"

Jadeite froze. He didn't have a clue as to how to answer her. What was love, anyway? Was it what he felt for Serena?

"Yes." He said at last, after what seemed like an eternity (but was only about five minutes). "Yes, I love you."

**X X X X**

"Right," Raye began. "I have called this urgent meeting to deal with an urgent situation, and that is: what are we to do about Serena?"

"Set traps around her house?" Luna said.

"Destroy her school books?" Amy said.

"She never does any studying, so that wouldn't work."

"By the way," Luna interrupted suddenly. "Did I tell you that she's being protected by the Outer Scouts now?"

Amy and Raye gave her inquiring looks, then said together, "Who are the Outer Scouts?"

"Sailors Pluto, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. And they are much more powerful than the Inners are, so I'd advise we tread carefully."

**X X X X**

"Well, Kanaydya," Beryl said with a frown. "I hope for your sake you have a good excuse for why you and your patrol failed to destroy the Scouts."

"I am sorry, my Queen," Kanaydya said, staring at the ground. "I will do better next time. I promise."

"For your sake, you had better."

"We have, however, a new weapon to use against them," Xanthenie, a younger Schreail, spoke up.

"I am aware of it," Beryl said. "I just hope that this plan will work."

**X X X X**

Serena couldn't have timed her arrival back at her house better. Her mother had decided to check on her, and she only just returned to her room before she was discovered.

"I'm glad to see you're obeying us, for once, Serena," Ikuko said with a smile when she found her daughter lying on her bed, apparently taking a nap. "I was afraid you might have found some way to sneak out again."

Serena didn't hear her. She was too busy staring up at the ceiling and daydreaming.

_"He loves me... he said he loves me..."_

**X X X X**

"We'll have to arrange for the Princess to come and live with us, now," Aquamarine said as the three Generals walked into the kitchen of their apartment. "We can't have her sent to an orphanage somewhere."

"That's child's play for Onyx," Obsidian shrugged. "She can hack into the records and change them so they'll say we're the only living relatives. She's already created fake birth certificates and life stories for us, so this won't be much of a challenge."

"Did I hear my name being thrown about?" Onyx popped her head through the door into the living room.

"We were just saying you'll have to see to it that Haruko stays with us," Aquamarine explained.

"Sure, couldn't be easier."

"When someone says something like that, it usually turns out to mean "couldn't be harder"."

"Aw, relax, 'Sidian. What can go wrong?"

"Do you want me to write you a list?"

**X X X X**

All was silent in the Tsukino household. But that didn't mean everyone was asleep. Far from it. Serena was still awake, staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about what might be in the future. Little did she know what the immediate future would hold, and if she had, she wouldn't have been dreaming about it. She would have been wishing it away.

"Sailor Moon?" a voice whispered.

Serena sat up at once. One of the Schreail (she had no idea which one, as they all seemed to look the same) was sitting on her windowsill.

_"Oh, no. It's come to kill me."_

As if sensing her thoughts, the creature said, "I have not come to harm you."

"What have you come for, then?" Serena asked quietly, not wanting her parents to hear this.

"I wish to talk with you."

"We can't talk here. My parents are asleep just down the hall."

"Then you can meet me in the park."

"Now?"

"In a few minutes' time."

Serena considered this. "Alone?"

"I will also be alone. I give you my word," the Schreail said.

"All right, but on one condition: that I can come transformed."

"As you wish."

With that, it disappeared, leaving Serena wondering if she had done the right thing, or made the biggest mistake of her life.

**X X X X**

Onyx glanced at the clock. 12:45. The other occupants of the apartment were asleep, while she was on the computer, trying to find out if anyone had seen or heard anything of the confrontation earlier today – or was that yesterday?- in which case their memories would have to be removed for their own safety.

"Still not asleep?"

The whispered question made her jump violently.

"I could say the same to you," she hissed, glaring at Aquamarine.

"I couldn't sleep. And not just because of the Princess's snoring."

Onyx had to bite back a smile. Haruko was staying with them, and it was a wonder Obsidian was able to sleep through the constant snoring.

"The neighbours had better not be able to hear that, or they'll complain, most likely."

"Speaking of neighbours, have you heard the latest?"

"What do you mean?"

"Some girl's moving in to the apartment across the hall. Lita something or other."

"Didn't know that." Onyx thought about this, then frowned. "She'd better be blind and deaf if she wants to live across the hall from us, or else she'll notice something strange is going on for sure!"

"We manage to keep everything hidden from our other neighbours," Aquamarine said.

"Yeah, but... Oh, never mind."

She turned back to the computer. Her fellow General frowned, staring at her.

"All right, General Onyx. Out with it!"

"Out with what?"

"You've been moping ever since we got back here. Why?"

"Well, it's just..." She hesitated, wondering how she was going to explain what the problem was without sounding like a whiny child.

"I don't like the way Obsidian treats me," she blurted out at last. "You'd think I was a little kid who couldn't be trusted to do anything without messing it up from the way she goes on at me! And she always brushes me aside whenever I try to talk to her, as if she's above than me and I'm not worth talking to! She's always angry with me whenever I do something she thinks is dangerous, and she's not even nice to the Princess, let alone me!"

Aquamarine was speechless for several moments. She wasn't sure whether to laugh at this, but hastily fought that particular urge back with the thought it could well be fatal.

"Have you ever thought about what it must be like for her?" she asked seriously. "She has to keep us all in line, and believe me, that's no easy task! And you always seem to take things as a joke. That doesn't fit with her personality at all. As for why she's angry with you if you do something foolish, well, if someone you care about puts themselves in danger, you'll be angry with them."

Onyx thought about this. "But she doesn't care about me!"

"You were friends when we were in training."

"That's a long time ago. We're all different now."

Aquamarine sighed and gave it up.

**X X X X**

When Serena, in Sailor Moon form, arrived at the park, the Schreail was waiting for her. She was half-expecting this to be a trap, and so was surprised to see there was no one else there.

"What do you want to say?" she asked warily.

"What do you know about us?" the Schreail said.

Sailor Moon thought about this.

"Nothing," she admitted at last.

"You're fighting something when you know nothing about them?"

"I know you kill people."

"Do you know why?"

"No..."

"Then when you hear, maybe you will think better of fighting us."

Was that a threat? Sailor Moon wasn't sure, but she was beginning to doubt the wisdom of coming here alone.

"Maybe, um... what's your name?" she said at last.

"I am Kanaydya," the Schreail said. "We are not from this galaxy. For centuries before this planet, this galaxy was ever even created, my kind existed. We did not rule the universe, but we were close to it. There were few creatures more powerful than us. But our planet was caught in a war between two rival planets, and many of us were killed. We would have been destroyed, but fate had other plans. The daughter of our previous leader found a way to change us into creatures that had the power to destroy all those who threatened us.

"She led us to your world, but we were banished. Some of us were sent to this planet, others back to our home, and others throughout the rest of the universe. But we have awakened, and will take revenge. We will rule the universe, and you will be unable to stop us."

"Why did you come to our world?" Sailor Moon interrupted.

"I was coming to that," Kanaydya said, irritated. "The price we had to pay for becoming what we are now was that we needed energy to survive. Our own was not sufficient. So we must kill others to take their energy."

"But then innocent people who never harmed you had to suffer."

"They were unimportant."

"They were living creatures!" Serena protested. "Whatever the reason for killing them, it isn't _right_!"

"Is it right when your kind kill and maim each other? Humans kill more of their own people than anything else in the universe!"

"What were you like before your great leader turned you into this?"

"We were like you." Kanaydya scowled at the memory. "We were weak, insignificant creatures like you, who were only able to live a few thousand years. Now, we can live forever."

"If you were human, or looked human, isn't there a possibility you can be like that again?"

"Why would we want to be like you?"


	19. Chapter 18

The next morning, Obsidian was rudely awakened by the sound of someone strangling cats and throwing anvils about – at least, that was what it sounded like.

"What the...?" She said, sitting up. She already had a headache, and this was only making matters worse. "What is that infernal racket?"

"The Princess listening to one of the rock CD's she brought," Aquamarine said wearily from under the covers of her bed.

"Rock CD's, huh? Well, if she doesn't turn that blasted thing off, it's going to be smashed by one!"

With that, the black-haired girl leapt out of bed and stormed out the door.

Aquamarine sighed. It was going to be one of _those_ days.

**X X X X**

"I've told you, I don't like this sort of cereal!" Serena said.

"I don't care if you like it or if you don't, just eat what's on your plate!" Kenji said sharply. "And I was under the impression that you liked all sorts of cereal and food in general, so you haven't got a leg to stand on!"

"Neither has your chair in the living room, dear," Ikuko said, pouring some more cereal out for Shingo, who had just marched into the room, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"What do you mean, my chair in the living room?"

"I've told you it's too old to stay, and now _someone_ -" she gave first her son, then her daughter stern looks "- has jumped on it so hard they've cracked one of the legs. It'll break if it's sat on."

"So that's what that noise was yesterday," Kenji mumbled, avoiding eye contact with his wife.

The children giggled quietly at this.

**X X X X**

"Obsidian! It's Monday and you'll be late for school!" Aquamarine yelled in the bedroom door.

"I'm not going to school. 1. I've got a headache and 2. The Princess isn't pleased with me for smashing her radio. I don't want to find a dead mouse in my bag or anything."

Onyx rolled her eyes. "Now I'll have to cover for her again."

"Why don't you just find some excuse to leave school?" Haruko asked curiously.

"Because it's our best way of keeping an eye on things."

"Then what's Aqua doing at her college?"

"Keeping an eye on the Earth Prince," Aquamarine replied for Onyx.

"Couldn't you find some way to get him out of the country?"

Both Generals gave her very hard looks.

"Sorry," the far-from-sorry Princess grumbled.

**X X X X**

"Hey, Serena!"

Serena winced at the voice of the last person she ever wanted to see or hear anything of again.

Raye and Amy ran across the yard towards her.

"Enjoy your weekend?" Raye asked mockingly.

What was that supposed to mean?

"I had an... interesting weekend, if that's what you want to know."

"Well, so did we," Amy's voice hardened. "It was _so_ nice of you to set those traps!"

"Traps?" Serena didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Don't try any evasions!" Raye clenched her fists. "You set extremely painful traps in our houses for us!"

"I did no such thing!"

"Indeed you did!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did NOT!"

"Did TOO!"

SLAP!

Raye once again found herself sprawled on the ground. Only this time, it wasn't Serena who'd hit her.

One very, very angry Haruko Howaito glared down at her.

"How dare you treat an innocent girl in such a manner?" she demanded, her eyes narrowed. "I know an awful lot about you, Raye Hino, and let me tell you, I think you're nothing but a cruel, low-down, bullying, backstabbing, vindictive, slimy, contemptible _sewer rat_!"

"Why, you-" Raye began, but didn't have a chance to finish as Haruko continued.

"And also, I have something else to tell you. The person who set those traps in your houses, it wasn't Serena. It was me! And my best friend helped me! And as soon as we can think up something worse to do, we'll do it to you! You traitors don't deserve any better! Do you know what would happen to you if this was the Silver Millennium? You'd be executed! So you can put _that_in your pipe and smoke it!"

With that, she gave Amy a good hard shove that resulted in her joining Raye on the ground, turned, and stormed into the school. The parents and pupils who had witnessed this (keeping their distance) started whispering amongst themselves. Serena hesitated, before following Haruko.

While she would never have admitted it, not even to herself, she had secretly been hoping that this could all be resolved and they could be friends again. That everything could be back to the way it was before... before that night she was late for a battle, that terrible night all this had started. But now she knew that there was no longer any hope of that wish being fulfilled. Too much had happened, and she, Raye, Amy and Luna were now bitter enemies. It was open war from now on.

**X X X X**

Aquamarine bounded down the steps and ran towards the main entrance. She had dropped Onyx and the Princess off at their school and been about to proceed to her college when she realised she had completely forgotten several books.

So, back to the apartment she went, trying not to be too much of a disturbance to Obsidian (who was resting on the couch and watching a film), collected the offending books, and was now on her way out to the car again, trying to think of a way to reach the college that would make up for lost time.

A tall, brown-haired girl suddenly ran in the main door and knocked into her, causing her to drop the books.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the girl apologised quickly, bending down to help Aquamarine pick them up.

Then their fingers touched, and a hard jolt of electricity shot down Aqua's arm, throwing her backward.

**X X X X**

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

Obsidian flinched. Who was that? What had Aquamarine forgotten this time?

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

"Come in," she said wearily.

Serena pushed the door open.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"I said I didn't feel well, so I was excused from class. I'll have to get back as soon as possible."

"Well, what did you come for?" Obsidian turned the TV off. "I doubt you came all the way over here just for a social call."

"No. I had another run-in with Amy and Raye, and I was wondering what we could do about it."

"That can be discussed at the meeting tonight."

"What meeting?"

"Didn't the Princess tell you?" Obsidian frowned. "There's to be a meeting here tonight at midnight."

"She didn't tell me that, but then I rushed off a bit quickly."

"Yes, and you'd better rush off again very quickly, before your absence becomes so long it will be remarked on."

"Okay," Serena sighed. "But I hate school."

As she opened the door, a glittering necklace caught her eye. It seemed to be almost enticing her to touch it.

"What's this pretty thing? Is it Haruko's?" she wondered aloud, reaching towards it.

Too late, Obsidian noticed what she was doing.

"_DON'T TOUCH THAT_!"

But Serena had already touched it, and she was promptly hit by a wave of long-forgotten memories.


	20. Chapter 19

Serena screamed and dropped the necklace, wishing she'd never been stupid enough to touch it in the first place. Now, she remembered everything. And she was praying she'd forget again.

"You _knew_," she said bitterly, glaring at Obsidian.

"We were going to tell you," the older girl protested. "Someday."

"Someday? Oh, and didn't I have a right to know who I really am? Not that I wanted to have to know, but if you'd given me a choice -"

"The reason we didn't tell you was because we wanted to keep you safe!" Obsidian said, trying to explain.

"You didn't keep me safe from my supposed friends, you know!"

"Yes, but... Serena? Serena! Come back here, now!"

"Leave me alone!" Serena yelled over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.

Obsidian stared after her, then picked up her communicator. "Pluto? She's remembered and run away. What do we do now?"

**X X X**

"It's too difficult!" Hotaru said angrily, throwing her pencil down in a fit of temper.

"What is?" Michiru asked, putting her violin down.

"My algebra homework!"

"Well, let's see if I can help you..."

All possibilities of Michiru helping Hotaru vanished abruptly when Setsuna materialised, looking more agitated than any of the Outer Scouts had ever seen her. She looked around to ensure all three were present and accounted for before speaking.

"There has been an unexpected turn of events," she said, with as much dignity as she could gather.

"What now?" Haruka demanded from where she was eating a sandwich and watching the TV.

"The Princess has been reawakened. And this was not supposed to happen until much, much later."

**X X X**** X**

"Captain?"

Kanaydya looked round. Xanthenie approached her cautiously.

"Yes?" she snapped.

"What did Sailor Moon say?"

Kanaydya thought back to the conversation. "She said we should go back to being what we were."

"I don't want that to happen."

Kanaydya was tempted to point out that Xanthenie was "born" long after the Change, and so had no idea of what they had been like. She could scarcely remember it herself. But she didn't.

"Do you think Queen Beryl would let that happen?"

"But suppose... suppose the Scouts win?"

"Queen Beryl said we are the strongest creatures working for her. I doubt a group of human children can stop us."

She turned away from Xanthenie, who took the hint and left.

_"They are of no real threat. But you are, traitor. You could have been one of us. But you ran, and now you are helping them. You know the penalty for treachery. And when we win, you __will pay it, Sapphira, or whatever it is you call yourself now!"_

**X X X**** X**

"Are you all right, Miss?"

Aquamarine sat up. She was now in a strange apartment, lying on the settee. The girl from downstairs was watching her, a worried expression on her face.

"What happened?" She asked warily.

"I don't know. You just collapsed."

"I'm fine now, Miss..."

"Kino. Lita Kino."

"Miss Kino. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to my school."

As she left, Aquamarine noticed something lying on the table. It was a pen. A transformation pen.

_"She's a Scout!"_

**X X X**** X**

Serena ran towards her school, then stopped abruptly as a thought struck her. If she went there, she would meet Raye and Amy, and she had no wish to do that any day soon. If she went home, her parents would kill her. She couldn't go to Molly's as Molly was at school. She didn't know where Jadeite lived.

"Where do I go?" she wondered, looking around.

She thought for a moment before she decided to risk going to school. She began to cross the road, not noticing the car speeding towards her.

"Look out!" someone yelled.

There was a terrible screech of brakes as the driver tried desperately to stop. Serena found herself practically frozen in place. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure lunge towards her. Then there was nothing but blackness.

**X X X X**

Haruko stared in disbelief at the contents of Onyx's lunch. How someone could eat a bacon sandwich, a banana, a packet of crisps, and then a chocolate bar (in that order) was beyond her. In fact, it made her feel ill just thinking about it. She was about to ask when the headmaster appeared on the scene.

"Children, has anyone seen Miss Tsukino?" He had to shout to be heard over the noise.

"No," everyone answered.

"Not since this morning," Onyx added.

The Head nodded. "Very well."

The Princess and the General exchanged concerned looks.

"She's run off again..." they said together.

**X X X**** X**

_RING – RING! RING – RING!_

Ikuko picked the phone up. "Hello? Yes, speaking. What? When did you see her last? I see. No, we haven't seen her... Yes, that would be helpful. Goodbye."

Setting it down again, she marched into the kitchen with a grim face.

"Kenji, you're not going to like what I've got to say."

"What's wrong now?" her husband groaned.

"It's Serena. She's run away from school... again!"

_RING – RING! RING – RING!_

The phone rang again. Kenji went to answer this time. He came back looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"What is it?"

"That was the hospital. Serena's… she was almost hit by a car."

**X X X**_** X**_

As soon as school was dismissed, Onyx and Haruko were on their way to Serena's house.

"I don't know what we're planning on doing," Onyx said with a frown. "Walk up to the door and say, "Hi, we go to Serena's school and we haven't seen her all day, so is she here, as it's our job to protect her"?"

"We don't have to say anything," Haruko said patiently. "You just have to look in her window and see if she's there, while I look in the living room window."

"And what if we're seen?"

"Yes, well, we'll cross that bridge when – _if_ – we come to it."

**X X**** X**** X**

"You're sure?" Obsidian gave Aquamarine an uncertain look.

"Of course, idiot. I'd hardly imagine something like that!"

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that."

"OBSIDIAN!" Aquamarine squealed, outraged, before realising her superior was laughing.

"On a more serious note, though, if this girl is another Scout, she's an Inner. And so..."

"She might side with the rest of the Inners," Obsidian said, "against Serena."

"Speaking of Serena, don't you think you should pay her a visit? Try to explain?"

"I can try to explain, but I don't know if she'll be in the mood for listening. She sure was mad at me!"

"When did you become an American?"

"What?"

**X X X**** X**

Onyx and Haruko weren't the only people hanging around Serena's house.

"Very odd relationship those two have," Raye complained from where she was sitting up a tree across the road. "He never visits her, and she never visits him!"

"Maybe her parents don't know about it, so they can't risk meeting except after school." Amy said as she ducked to avoid a branch the wind had sent towards her head.

The movement almost knocked Raye out of the tree.

"Hey, watch it, clumsy!" she whined.

"Sorry. But isn't this going a bit far?"

"I just want to find out who he is. I don't want her in any danger, even if she wasn't a true friend after all," the other girl lied, turning her attention back to the house.

Obsidian, walking beneath the tree on her way to Serena's house, was quite astonished to hear voices coming from overhead. The sight that met her eyes when she looked up made her grit her teeth and clench her fists.

"Oi! What under the Sun are you two doing up there? Waiting to rob someone?"

Raye and Amy almost fell out of the tree in shock when the voice yelled beneath them. Both jumped down to face their accuser.

"Is it any of your business?" Raye asked coldly.

"Anything involving _you_, Fire-Girl, is most definitely my business. You-" this was directed at Amy "-had better clear off. I heard enough to know that this doesn't concern you."

"Just who do you think you are, ordering me around?" the outraged Scout demanded.

Obsidian's eyes flashed red for a minute. "Do. As. You're. Told."

"Go ahead, please," Raye said through gritted teeth. "I'll catch up."

When he left, she fixed this strange girl who had the audacity to boss her around – what was her name again? Scarlett something? - with a glare that could have melted Antarctica. The girl returned it with a look that would have made Medusa jealous.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Raye demanded after a few minutes, finding that she was unable to meet that glare any longer.

"Who I am is unimportant. What is important is that you and your ilk leave Serena alone."

"What's it to you?"

"My dear girl, as Serena's guardian, it is _everything_ to me."

"Guardian, huh? You'll be telling me you're Queen of the Moon Kingdom next," Raye scoffed.

Obsidian took a step forwards, and the Scout of Mars took a step back. Apart from the fact the former was over a head taller than the latter, she was a very fearsome sight when angry, as Onyx and Haruko would affirm.

"Get out of here _this minute_. And if I see or hear anything of you around here ever again, you won't live to regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"What part of "get out" didn't you understand?"

Raye was about to retort, but thought better of it. She didn't want to put this obviously mad girl to the test, at least not now, without backup nearby.

Obsidian watched her go, then crossed the road and headed towards Serena's house.

"Hey! 'Sidian!" someone called from somewhere nearby.

Startled, she stopped in her tracks. Haruko appeared seemingly out of nowhere, looking rather worried. Onyx followed a few minutes later.

"What the devil are you two doing here?"

"Could ask _you_ the same question," Onyx said smartly.

"Oi, watch it. You're treading a very thin line here, kid," Obsidian was in no mood to put up with her subordinate's constant taunting.

"We were checking on the Princess," Haruko quickly interrupted. "And something's happened to her!"

"What sort of something?"

"Something that isn't good," Onyx interrupted, earning an irritated look from both her companions. "Her parents and brother rushed off somewhere not long after we arrived and they haven't come back yet. And there's no sign of Serena."

"What do you make of it?" Haruko asked as soon as she could get a word in edgeways.

"I don't know. But she's our leader, and the Schreail know that."

The other two digested that in silence.

"You don't mean..."

"Like I said, I don't know. But I wouldn't put it past them to do something to her. Like kill her, for instance. Or kidnap her."

Those were truly appalling thoughts.

**X X X**** X****  
><strong>  
>"Seriously, you didn't expect me to fall for <em>that<em> trick again?" Nephrite (the only one in this conversation not covered in red paint) asked sarcastically. "The only difference was it was paint this time, not water." 

Zoycite glared at her, pushing her suddenly blood-red hair away from her eyes. "Well, I was running out of ideas!" she whined.

"If that's the best you can do, you are in serious trouble."

**X X X**** X**

Jadeite frowned. Something was wrong, he'd felt it all day. Were the Schreail attacking again? Or was it the Dark Kingdom up to their old tricks? Pity if it was, they seemed to have gone into hiding since he'd left.

**X X X**** X**

Aquamarine looked up at the clock. Obsidian had been gone half an hour, and the girls hadn't come home from school. Maybe she should go look for them. But no, that would mean if they came home, there'd be no one there and they might go off again. She couldn't have that.

As if on cue, the door was hurled open and Obsidian, Onyx and Haruko burst in.

"Serena… is… in… hospital!" Haruko gasped, bent almost double as she tried to regain her breath.

Aquamarine jumped up, horrified. "_What_? What happened?"


	21. Chapter 20

_"What?__ What happened?"_

_"She was almost hit by a car," Onyx said. "They think she'll be all right, but they're keeping her in just to make sure."_

**X X X X**

Serena was thoroughly bored. She had been in hospital for two hours, and there was nothing for her to do but sit and stare around her. That had gotten old very quickly.

The door to her room opened and one of the nurses walked in, smiling. "We'll keep you in for observation tonight, dear, but you can go home tomorrow."

Serena didn't smile. Was she to have nothing to do for the rest of the day?

"Meanwhile, there's someone here to see you."

The girl looked up, and stared at Jadeite in disbelief.

"What are you doing here?" she managed to stutter at last, after the nurse had left.

He raised an eyebrow. "I go to all the trouble of finding which hospital you're in, convincing the receptionist that while I wasn't family, it was all right to let me see you because I worked at your school – I told quite a few lies, I'm afraid – and walking up a hundred or so stairs to see you, and that's all the welcome I get? Something doesn't seem right there."

She laughed. She couldn't help it. "Sorry, I just didn't expect to see you here."

He smiled briefly, and then looked serious. "I've… got something to say to you. Queen Beryl contacted me about half an hour ago. She insists that I continue collecting energy or… she'll kill me."

Serena leaned forward, horrified. "You aren't going to obey her, are you?"

"I have no choice if I want to keep her thinking I'm on her side. I won't hurt anyone, though," he assured her, seeing the look on her face. "I'll take just a little energy from each person."

"It's still not right!" Serena protested. "Besides, haven't the Schreail seen you with us?"

"The ones who did were killed."

XXXX

"I think we should contact the Outer Scouts before we visit Serena," Aquamarine said.

"No need," a voice said from behind her.

Everyone jumped and looked round. Setsuna stood in the corner of the room.

"I've already contacted them and told them to come here. They're at a fair, so it might take a while."

"Serena is in hospital, and they're at a fair," Obsidian muttered.

Setsuna either didn't hear or ignored her as she continued. "I've also asked two more Scouts to pay us a visit. They should be here any moment now."

"Two more Scouts?"

"Who?" Onyx asked, sitting up.

"One has just awakened, the other was Sailor V."

At this moment, the door opened and two girls in Sailor Scout uniforms entered, looking around a bit awkwardly.

"This is Sailor Jupiter," Setsuna said, pointing to the girl in green, "and this is –"

"Venus!" Haruko yelled, leaping at the other girl.

"Solaria!" the girl cried.

And, to everyone but Sailor Pluto's astonishment, the girls hugged each other and cried.

"What's all this?" Aquamarine asked, bewildered.

"This is Sailor Venus! My cousin, remember?"

Light dawned all round. "Ohh…" everyone but Sailor Pluto said.

**XXXX**

"We've heard the whole story," Sailor Jupiter said later after everyone had calmed down, "and the other Inner Scouts were definitely in the wrong. So if you'll let us work with you –"

"Of course we will!" Haruko said, forgetting that earlier that very day, she had muttered to Onyx that she would never trust any Inner Scout as long as she lived. But then, she was so excited at being reunited with her cousin that she could have forgiven _Beryl_, if she had been nearby.

Just then, the Outer Scouts arrived. They didn't bother knocking; they just barged right in.

"Sorry we took so long," Haruka gasped, out of breath, "but we were –"

"We heard," Obsidian interrupted.

"Before we start talking about Serena, I have something to tell you that Jadeite told me," Setsuna said.

"What?" Aquamarine asked.

She told them what Jadeite had told Serena.

**XXXX**

"It's _your_ fault!"

"_MY_ fault?" Nephrite looked at his tormentor incredulously. "Your memory seems to be in a sorry state, blaming_ me_ for this!"

"Then who should I blame?" Zoycite demanded.

"Yourself, of course."

In the middle of yet another of their fights, an energy blast, fired by Zoycite, had gone out of control and hit the wall, demolishing a good deal of it. While it could in time be fixed, it was yet another thing to go on Nephrite's list of "Reasons She Must Not Be Allowed to Stay". As far as he was concerned, he had more than enough on that list to justify throwing her out. Not that he had needed any justification, of course.

"Right, this does it. You're going out!"

"What, on the streets?"

"Either that, or back to the Dark Kingdom."

"No way!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is _my_ house, I give the orders, and I'm doing something I should have done long, long ago! And don't you dare try to blackmail me again, or I'll kill you! I mean it!"

"You can't throw me out!" Zoycite looked on the point of throwing a tantrum.

Nephrite rolled his eyes. "And give me one good reason why not? I was under the impression you hate me as much as I hate you, so why do you want to stay?"

"No, I don't want to stay, it's... I mean... I..." Zoycite broke off. "I can't tell you."

"Then out you go!"

"No, I... I..." She stared at the ground. "I'm pregnant."


	22. Author's Note

Rewriting has been completed, but I've no idea when the next chapter will be added. There are a lot of real life things taking up my time, so it might not be for quite a while. Sorry, but I'll try my best to have at least one chapter added some time soon. Until then, thank you to everyone who's read, and a special thank you to the ones who've reviewed!


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